none 10.18502/ijhoscr.v19i2.18551 Knowledge E DMCC Knowledge E DMCC 7770 175985456 325747 1772105201 10.18502 2026-02-26T11:26:42Z 2025-05-03T07:16:14Z 1 International Journal of Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Research IJHOSCR 2008-2207 05 03 2025 Naveed Syed Imrana Afrooz Farooq Ahmed Mir Azmat Ali Khan Nada J.M.H Abdulla Shakir Hussain Ashok Uttam Chandani Amera Hassan Hanin Abdel Samad Gehad ElGhazali Shahrukh Hashmi Background: Patients from regions without stem cell transplantation (SCT) facilities often seek treatment abroad and return home for post-transplant care. Although extensive data exist on graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and its risk factors, information on international SCT patients returning to countries that lack transplant facilities and expertise is scarce and not well documented. Materials and Methods: We screened 149 transplant recipients and analyzed the data of 91 patients who received transplants abroad and were followed up at our center from January 2019 to December 2022. This observational study used data from electronic medical records and employed descriptive statistics, inferential tests, and relative risk calculations with forest plots to analyze the prevalence of GVDH and its key risk factors. Results: Of the recipients, 31.8% were residents of nine countries residing in the UAE, and 67.2% were UAE citizens. Adults comprised 48.3% of the recipients, whereas 51.7% were pediatric patients. Hematological malignancy was the most common indication (49%), primarily in adults. Siblings comprised the majority of donors (52.6%), followed by related (23.09%) and unrelated donors (8.9%). Most patients (69.2%) received HLA-identical transplants, followed by 21.9% who received haplo-identical transplants. Among adults, 62.2% developed GVHD compared to 26% of pediatric patients. Recipients from related HLA-identical donors had a 50% prevalence of GVDH, whereas those from unrelated identical donors had a 71% prevalence. The overall prevalence of GVDH was 50% in 87.9% of patients who received allogeneic SCTs. Conclusion: Despite favorable factors, such as young age and matched related donors, we found a high prevalence of GVDH. Ocular GVHD was less prevalent than expected, and lung GVHD was weakly correlated with established risk factors. Larger multicenter studies are needed to assess and confirm the effect of contributing factors. 05 03 2025 10.18502/ijhoscr.v19i2.18551 https://publish.kne-publishing.com/index.php/IJHOSCR/article/view/18551 https://publish.kne-publishing.com/index.php/IJHOSCR/article/download/18551/17276 https://publish.kne-publishing.com/index.php/IJHOSCR/article/download/18551/17276 https://ijhoscr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijhoscr/article/view/2168