• Koji Amano, Isseki Maeda, Tatsuya Morita, Tomofumi Miura, Satoshi Inoue, Masayuki Ikenaga, Yoshihisa Matsumoto, Mika Baba, Ryuichi Sekine, Takashi Yamaguchi, Takeshi Hirohashi, Tsukasa Tajima, Ryohei Tatara, Hiroaki Watanabe, Hiroyuki Otani, Chizuko Takigawa, Yoshinobu Matsuda, Hiroka Nagaoka, Masanori Mori, and Hiroya Kinoshita.
• Department of Palliative Medicine, Osaka City General Hospital, Osaka City, Osaka, Japan. Electronic address: kojiamano4813@gmail.com.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2016 May 1; 51 (5): 860-7.

ContextPlasma C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are elevated in patients with advanced cancer.ObjectivesTo investigate CRP as a prognostic marker in palliative settings.MethodsThis multicenter prospective cohort study comprised 2426 patients. Laboratory data were obtained at baseline, and all patients were followed until death or six months after their enrollment. A total of 1511 patients were eligible for the analyses. They were divided into four groups: low-CRP (CRP < 1 mg/dL), moderate-CRP (1 ≤ CRP <5 mg/dL), high-CRP (5 ≤ CRP <10 mg/dL), and very high-CRP (10 mg/dL ≤ CRP) groups. Survival was investigated by the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. The 30-, 60-, and 90-day mortality rates were tested by Chi-squared tests. Univariate- and multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs in each group were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsSurvival rate decreased and mortality rate increased with increasing CRP level. The differences in survival and 30-, 60-, and 90-day mortality rates among the groups were statistically significant (P < 0.001). Baseline CRP level was significantly associated with a higher risk of mortality after adjustment for age, gender, primary tumor site, metastasis, chemotherapy, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, and setting of care (moderate-CRP: HR 1.47 [95% CI 1.24-1.73], high-CRP: HR 2.09 [95% CI 1.74-2.50], and very high-CRP: HR 2.55 [95% CI 2.13-3.05] vs. low-CRP).ConclusionClear dose-effect relationships between elevated CRP levels and prognoses indicate that CRP could be useful in predicting prognoses in patients with advanced cancer.Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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