Prognostic Analysis Of Prognostic Factors And Assessment On The Clinical Staging Systems Of Multiple Myeloma

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease of plasma cell tumor which has poor prognosis. This study was to explore the prognostic factors and find the most suitable clinical staging systems of MM in China. METHODS: We carried out univariate and multivariate analyses on 19 clinical and laboratory indexes from 206 MM patients and these MM patients were classified into the four staging systems in order to compare their survival times. RESULTS: Of the 206 patients, 138 were men, 68 were women. Median age of the whole group was 59 years (ranged 27～90 years). The median survival time of the patients was 33 months. The 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival rate occupied 80.18%, 48.08%.and 33.7%. The univaried analysis identified 11 prognostic factors: the lagged time between symptom occurrence and treatment, age, bone marrow plasma cells, hemoglobin, platelet count, corrected serum calcium, albumin, creatinine, β₂ microglobulin, C-Reactive Protein and skeletal disease. And multivariate analysis showed that C-Reactive Protein, β₂ microglobulin, albumin, age, the lagged time between symptom occurrence and treatment were independent prognostic factors. There exist differences among the three prognostic groups in Durie Salmon staging system and Bataille staging system as well as between I group and II group of International Staging System. However, no difference could be found among the three groups in British Medical Research Council staging system and between the II group and III group of International Staging System. CONCLUSIONS: High C-Reactive Protein, high β₂ microglobulin, low albumin old age and the lagged time between symptom occurrence and treatment were correlated with poor prognosis. Durie Salmon staging system and Bataille staging system were suitable for Chinese MM patients.