Survival analysis and prognostic factor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM)

• Main Authors: Che Soh, Nur Sabrina, Bachok, NorSa'adah, Baba, Aziz, Wan Muhammad, Wan Mohd Zahiruddin
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/8918/1/Survival_Analysis_and_Prognostic_Factor.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/8918/; http://www.iium.edu.my/irie/11/

INTRODUCTION: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is included in the ten leading cancers worldwide, accounting for an estimated more than 63 thousand new cases and over 19 thousands deaths per year. The study on survival rate and prognostic factors may be useful in building a better intervention program as well as improving survival rate. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to determine the survival and to identify the prognostic factors that influence the risk of death of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). METHODOLOGY: A retrospective record review was conducted involving 154 patients diagnosed as NHL from 1st January 1997 till 31st December 2006. Additional three years follow-up after the recruitment of the subjects was done to verify patients’ status. All patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The required information at time of diagnosis as well as patients’ survival status until 31st December 2009 was retrieved from medical records. For some patients who were still alive upon discharge from hospital but defaulted appointment or were loss to follow-up were traced by telephone calls and home visit to obtain information on patients’ survival status. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS version 12 and STATA version 9. Kaplan-Meier procedure was used to calculate survival estimates while Cox Proportional Hazards Model was used to determine prognostic factors. RESULTS: The overall 5 and 10-years survival rates for NHL in HUSM was 33.2% (95%CI: 25.2, 41.4) and 26.9% (95%CI: 18.7, 35.8) respectively. Adjusted for other variables, the significant prognostic factors identified by Cox Proportional Hazards Model are age at diagnosis (HR=1.02; 95%CI: 1.0, 1.2; p=0.009), number of extranodal involvement (HR= 3.2; 95%CI: 1.4, 7.0; p=0.005), thrombocytopenia (HR= 2.0; 95%CI: 1.2, 3.6; p= 0.001) and lymphocytopenia (HR= 2.3; 95%CI: 1.3, 4.2; p= 0.006). CONCLUSION: The 5 and 10-year survival of NHL patients treated in HUSM was lower compared to other studies. The significant prognostic factors identified in this study were age at diagnosis, number of extranodal involvement, thrombocytopenia and lymphocytopenia. However, other important significant prognostic factors such as stage, treatment modalities and grade were not identified as prognostic factors in this study after adjusting other variables. Key word: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, survival, prognostic factors.