Prognostic value of morphological classifications and clinical variables in elderly and young patients with multiple myeloma.
The prognostic value of morphological classifications and clinical variables was compared between 31 elderly (> or = 65 years) and 43 young (< 65 years) patients with myeloma. Prognostic factors were divided into three groups: factors useful in elderly patients, e.g., calcium, albumin; factors useful in young patients, e.g., platelet, creatinine, light-chain type; and factors useful in both patients, e.g., clinical stage, hemoglobin, LDH, CRP, bone marrow plasma cell and plasmablast percentages, light- and electron-microscopic classifications. The 5-year survival rates of elderly patients with calcium < 12 and > or = 12 mg/dl were 66.2 and < 11.1%, respectively (p<0.01). Those of the young patients were 64.1 and 33.3%, respectively. The 5-year survival rates of elderly patients with platelets > or = 200 x 10(9)/l and < 100 x 10(9)/l were 59.7 and 50.0%, respectively. Those of the young patients were 68.9 and 33.3%, respectively (p<0.05). The 5-year survival rates of elderly patients with few and numerous electron-microscopic abnormalities were 90 and 0%, respectively (p<0.01), those of young patients were 92.9 and < 14.3%, respectively (p<0.01). These findings suggest that individual clinical variables may differ in prognostic importance in elderly and young patients.
Kurabayashi
H
H
Department of Medicine, Kusatsu Branch Hospital, Gunma University Hospital, Japan.
Kubota
K
K
Tsuchiya
J
J
Murakami
H
H
Tamura
J
J
Naruse
T
T
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis