Prognostic value of clinical variables in ovarian cancer

To test the hypothesis that clinical variables, including the patient's symptoms, symptom severity, and co-morbidity, affect the survival rate in patients with ovarian cancer.

We reviewed the records of 137 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed and treated between January 1987 and June 1992, and extracted data regarding patients' demographic characteristics, symptoms, medical co-morbidity, stage of disease, tumor histology and grade, treatment, and clinical course.

Once cases of borderline tumors were excluded, the overall 3-year and 4-year mortality rate were 38% and 49%, respectively. There was an decrease in 4-year survival with more advanced symptom type ranging from 85% in asymptomatic women to 38% in women with complex symptoms (log rank, p = 0.005). Medical co-morbidity was not found to affect survival in the cohort studied. We performed multivariable analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model and confirmed that the symptom stage was highly prognostic even after controlling for FIGO stage, age and co-morbidity (p = 0.004).

We found that clinical variables such as patient's symptoms, were associated with prognosis. Symptom classification is a necessary and important component in a system of prognostic stratification for ovarian cancer.