Abstract:
Objective Early investigations suggested that whole-body phase angle (PhA) was associated with prognostic prediction in patients with cancer. This study aimed to investigate the role of PhA in prognostic prediction in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
Methods We retrospectively analyzed 148 newly diagnosed cases of SCLC in The First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University from January 2015 to July 2017. Progression-free survival (PFS) and prognostic factors, including age, body mass index (BMI), and stage of cancer at baseline, were assessed. Inbody (Biospace Co®) was used to measure PhA. All analyses were performed separately for each sex. According to the second tri-sectional quantile range of BMI and PhA, all patients were divided into relatively low and high groups. The survival rate was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and the difference between groups was compared using the Log-rank test. Cox regression analysis was used to analyze factors that could affect the prognosis of patients.
Results PhA in men (5.56±0.71)° was statistically different from that in women (4.69±0.91)°, P < 0.001. Multivariate analysis showed that PhA (HR=0.646, 95%CI: 0.486-0.860, P=0.003) was an independent prognostic factor in patients with SCLC. The median PFS of patients in the low and high PhA groups were 7.77 and 10.50 months, respectively. The Log-rank test showed a statistical difference between both groups (P < 0.05).
Conclusions PhA is a good predictor of prognosis in patients with SCLC. PhA differs between sexes. Further investigation should be conducted to explore the effective cutoff value of PhA for different diseases in East Asia.