Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive central nervous system tumor with a poor prognosis. This study was conducted to determine any comorbid medical conditions that are associated with survival in GBM. Data were collected from medical records of all patients who presented to VCU Medical Center with GBM between January 2005 and February 2015. Patients who underwent surgery/biopsy were considered for inclusion. Cox proportional hazards regression modeling was performed to assess the relationship between survival and sex, race, and comorbid medical conditions. 163 patients met inclusion criteria. Comorbidities associated with survival on individual-characteristic analysis included: history of asthma (Hazard Ratio [HR]: 2.63; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.24–5.58; p = 0.01), hypercholesterolemia (HR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.09–3.50; p = 0.02), and incontinence (HR: 2.29; 95% CI: 0.95–5.57; p = 0.07). History of asthma (HR: 2.22; 95% CI: 1.02–4.83; p = 0.04) and hypercholesterolemia (HR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.11–3.56; p = 0.02) were associated with shorter survival on multivariable analysis. Surgical patients with GBM who had a prior history of asthma or hypercholesterolemia had significantly higher relative risk for mortality on individual-characteristic and multivariable analyses.
Highlights
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common and fast-growing central nervous system (CNS) tumor with a poor prognosis
Retrospective data were obtained from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Brain and Spine Tumor Registry, which contains data from medical records for all patients who presented with a brain tumor between January 2005 and February 2015
A total of 197 patients diagnosed with GBM presented to VCU from January 2005 to February 2015
Summary
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common and fast-growing central nervous system (CNS) tumor with a poor prognosis. GBM, classified as World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV glioma, is a primary CNS tumor[1] It is the most prevalent glioma (57.3%) and most common primary malignant brain tumor (14.6%) with an annual incidence rate of 3.2 per 100,000 population in the United States[1,2]. Limited research has been conducted on demographic factors, clinical characteristics, or medical comorbidities as predictors for overall survival[10,19]. Given the short natural history of GBM and its prevalence among malignant brain tumors, there exists a need to elucidate further prognostic factors that can improve patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate demographic, clinical characteristics, and pre-existing medical comorbidities as predictors of overall survival among patients with GBM
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