title: Risk of Early Mortality in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma.
abstract: The overall survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has been improved greatly over the last 2 decades with the broader use of novel drugs and autologous tandem transplantation. However, more than one tenth of myeloma patients still die shortly after diagnosis. We therefore aim to investigate the risk factors of early mortality (death within 60 days after diagnosis) in patients with MM. We included in this study 451 consecutive patients with MM, newly diagnosed at an Asian tertiary medical center between January 1, 2002 and April 30, 2015. A total of 57 subjects who experienced early mortality were identified. Risk factors for early mortality in myeloma patients were collected and analyzed. Early mortality occurred in 57 (12.6%) of the myeloma patients. In the multivariate analysis, being male (adjusted OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.17-7.31), serum albumin < 3.5  g/dL (adjusted OR 2.71, 95% CI 1.09-6.74), primary plasma cell leukemia (adjusted OR 17.61, 95% CI 1.01-306.05), serum albumin (adjusted OR 2.70, 95% CI 1.15-6.38), corrected serum calcium ≥ 12  mg/dL (adjusted OR 2.94, 95% CI 1.21-7.14), and LDH ≥ 250  U/L (adjusted OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.50-6.27) were identified as independent risk factors of early mortality. Pneumonia with other infections contributed most to early mortality (n = 36, 65%), followed by renal failure and cardiac failure. The early mortality rate is high (12.6%) in patients with MM. Patients who are male and those with primary plasma cell leukemia, low serum albumin, high-corrected serum calcium, or LDH are at risk of early mortality. Nearly two thirds of the myeloma patients who experienced early mortality in our study (37 of 57, 65%) died of infection. Once a high-risk group is identified, much effort is required to target new approaches for prevention, early detection, and treatment of infections.
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (PH, J-PG, Y-BY, L-TH, C-HT, P-MC, J-HL, Y-CL, C-JL), School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University (T-WL, J-PG, Y-BY, L-TH, C-HT, P-MC, T-JC, J-HL, Y-CL, C-JL), Department of Medical Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (T-WL), Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University (C-JL); and Division of Transfusion Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (T-JC); Department of Medicine of Yang-Ming Branch, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (Y-CL).
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Ting-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jyh-Pyng
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gau
authors.forename: Yuan-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Liang-Tsai
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: Cheng-Hwai
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tzeng
authors.forename: Po-Min
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tzeon-Jye
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chiou
authors.forename: Jin-Hwang
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yao-Chung
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chia-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061213:Mortality, Premature; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan