title: Influence of Prognostic Factors on OverallSurvival in Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accurate prediction of a patient's prognosis is useful to define the risk posed by the disease. Age, gender, peripheral blood cytopenia, proportion of bone marrow (BM) blasts, performance status, comorbidities, transfusion dependence, specific karyotype abnormalities and molecular biomarkers can refine the prediction of prognosis in MDS.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to assess the influence of the some prognostic factors like age, gender, cytopenia, BM blast percentage, transfusion dependence, ferritin, hemoglobin (Hb), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin and specific karyotype abnormalities in myelodysplastic syndromes on overall survival (OS).
  
  
  METHODS
  we retrospectively analyzed the cohort of 108 patients diagnosed between 1.1.2011 and 31.12.2013 at the University Clinic of Hematology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia. They were evaluated for clinical and hematologic features at diagnosis and at leukemic transformation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  in the study group 62 were man and 46 women. Male to female ratio was 1.35 to 1. The differences in OS between men and women were significant (p = .03015). The mean age at diagnosis was 66,6 years. According to the age OS was 16,4 months. FAB subtypes influenced OS significantly (p = .03015). OS inversely correlated with BM blast percentage (p= .02327). Cytopenia had no impact on OS (p=.33755). Hb as a whole and groups with different levels of Hb had no influence on OS (p = .12142) and (p= .07535), respectively. The group with ferritin <500 µg/L had better OS (p=.04720). Transfusion dependence, LDH and albumin had no impact on OS. Leukemic transformation was noticed in 10 (9,3%) patients. Mortality was 36,1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  gender, FAB subtypes, BM blast percentage and the serum levels of ferritin had an influence on OS, while age, hemoglobin level, transfusion dependence, LDH and albumin had no impact on OS.
authors.affiliation: University Clinic of Hematology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sotirova
authors.affiliation: University Clinic of Hematology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stojanovic
authors.affiliation: University Clinic of Hematology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Genadieva-Stavric
authors.affiliation: University Clinic of Hematology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krstevska
authors.affiliation: University Clinic for Rheumatology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Dejan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spasovski
authors.affiliation: Institute for Pharmacology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
authors.forename: Trajan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Balkanov
keywords: myelodysplastic syndromes; overall survival; prognostic factors