Table 2.

Patient characteristics affecting progression‐free and overall survival in univariate analysis

Characteristics	No. patients	Estimated median survival (weeks)	P‐value
Progression‐free survival
Response to therapy
No response	34	6.00 ± 0.52
Response	22	40.00 ± 7.51	<0.001
Durie–Salmon stage
Stages 1 and 2	5	33.00 ± 27.39
Stage 3	51	8.00 ± 3.11	0.037
International staging system
Stages 1 and 2	45	13.00 ± 3.83
Stage 3	11	6.00 ± 0.89	0.131
Chromosomal abnormality
–	38	8.00 ± 6.94
+	14	7.00 ± 0.46	0.184
Plasma concentration of thalidomide
<2 mg/L	18	13.00 ± 10.61
≥2 mg/L	25	14.00 ± 4.00	0.172
Overall survival
Response to therapy
No response	34	48.00 ± 9.48
Response	22	160.00 ± 37.58	0.009
Chromosomal abnormality
–	38	119.00 ± 35.57
+	14	44.00 ± 6.55	<0.001
Lactate dehydrogenase
≤200 IU/L	35	119.00 ± 45.10
>200 IU/L	21	44.00 ± 14.71	0.001
C‐reactive protein
≤10 mg/L	49	100.00 ± 23.08
>10 mg/L	7	18.00 ± 7.86	0.001
Previous therapy
≤6 courses	17	177.00 ± 14.08
>6 courses	38	49.00 ± 9.25	0.002
Pretreatment plasma hepatocyte growth factor level
≤0.3 µg/L	34	119.00 ± 44.39
>0.3 µg/L	18	61.00 ± 14.85	0.025
Pretreatment plasma vascular endothelial growth factor level
≤38.3 ng/L	16	49.00 ± 16.00
>38.3 ng/L	36	119.00 ± 25.66	0.044
Allogeneic stem cell transplantation
–	51	99.00 ± 19.99
+	5	37.00 ± 6.57	0.077
International staging system
Stages 1 and 2	45	84.00 ± 26.28
Stage 3	11	57.00 ± 35.23	0.078