Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of women with advanced-stage cancer
| Measurement | All women n = 159 |
LV mass/height2 < 50.00 g/m2 (1st tertile, n = 53) | LV mass/height2 ≥ 50.00– < 61.15 g/m2 (2nd tertile, n = 53) | LV mass/height2 ≥ 61.15 g/m2 (3rd tertile, n = 53) | p-value, ANOVA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical variables | |||||
| Age (years) | 62 ± 1.1 | 53 ± 2.0###, *** | 64 ± 1.6 | 68 ± 1.6 | < 0.001 |
| Body mass index, BMI (kg/m2) | 24.1 ± 0.4 | 21.8 ± 0.6##, *** | 24.5 ± 0.7 | 26.1 ± 0.7 | < 0.001 |
| Wasting syndrome with unintentional weight loss, n (%) | 85 (54) | 37 (70)*** | 29 (55)* | 19 (36) | 0.002 |
| Markers of the GH-IGF-I axis | |||||
| Growth hormone, GH (ng/mL) | 0.97 (0.35–2.55) | 1.82 (0.86–4.17)#, * | 0.82 (0.21–2.18) | 0.51 (0.27–1.63) | 0.029 |
| Insulin-like growth factor-I, IGF-I (ng/mL) | 64.7 (40.7–97.4) | 67.6 (48.2–115.9)** | 71.6 (47.9–95.3)* | 48.5 (34.9–75.5) | 0.007 |
| Log IGF-I/GH ratio | 1.83 ± 0.05 | 1.60 ± 0.09##, * | 2.02 ± 0.09 | 1.88 ± 0.09 | 0.004 |
| Growth hormone binding protein, GHBP (pmol/L) | 384 (138–663) | 276 (144–627) | 294 (132–696) | 424 (125–685) | 0.54 |
| IGF-I binding protein 3, IGFBP3 (µg/mL) | 1.82 ± 0.05 | 1.97 ± 0.09** | 1.90 ± 0.08* | 1.65 ± 0.08 | 0.022 |
| Cancer and anti-cancer therapy details | |||||
| Cancer stage III/IV, n (%) | 127 (79) | 41 (77) | 45 (85) | 41 (77) | 0.56 |
| Solid cancer, n (%) | 98 (62) | 31 (58) | 39 (74) | 28 (53) | 0.08 |
| ECOG Performance Scale points | 1.96 ± 0.09 | 1.68 ± 0.14 | 2.09 ± 0.16 | 2.09 ± 0.16 | 0.09 |
| Karnofsky Index (%) | 70.8 ± 1.6 | 74.5 ± 2.4 | 66.7 ± 2.9 | 69.1 ± 2.8 | 0.24 |
| Systemic anti-cancer therapy naïve, n (%) | 25 (16) | 7 (13) | 6 (11) | 12 (23) | 0.23 |
| Cancer drugs causing heart failure (ESC guidelines ‘22), n (%) | 66 (42) | 22 (42) | 23 (43) | 21 (40) | 0.98 |
| Cancer therapies associated with cardiomyopathy (AHA ‘22), n (%) | 88 (55) | 29 (55) | 32 (60) | 27 (51) | 0.62 |
| Side diagnosis | |||||
| Anemia, n (%) | 109 (69) | 36 (68) | 31 (58) | 42 (79) | 0.08 |
| Arterial hypertension, n (%) | 79 (50) | 14 (26)##, *** | 29 (55) | 36 (68) | < 0.001 |
| Hypercholesterolemia, n (%) | 49 (31) | 8 (15)##, * | 23 (43) | 18 (34) | 0.004 |
| Type II diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 20 (13) | 1 (2)#, ** | 8 (15) | 11 (21) | 0.008 |
| Chronic kidney disease, n (%) | 9 (6) | 1 (2) | 3 (6) | 5 (9) | 0.30 |
| Medication | |||||
| ACE inhibitors/ARBs, n (%) | 41 (26) | 8 (15) | 16 (30) | 17 (32) | 0.09 |
| Beta-blockers, n (%) | 28 (18) | 6 (11) | 9 (17) | 13 (25) | 0.22 |
| Anticoagulants, n (%) | 6 (4) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) | 1.00 |
| Diuretics, n (%) | 30 (19) | 3 (6)*** | 10 (19) | 17 (32) | 0.003 |
| Antidepressants, n (%) | 25 (16) | 11 (21) | 8 (15) | 6 (11) | 0.45 |
| Opioids, n (%) | 43 (27) | 9 (17) | 19 (36) | 15 (28) | 0.08 |
| Corticosteroids, n (%) | 46 (29) | 12 (23) | 18 (34) | 16 (30) | 0.47 |
vs. 2nd tertile: # < 0.05, ## < 0.01, ### < 0.001
vs. 3rd tertile: * < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001
ACE, angiotensin-converting enzyme; ARB, angiotensin II receptor blocker; BSA, body surface area; ECOG, Eastern Co-operative of Oncology Group [22]; Karnofsky Index [23]; ESC, European Society of Cardiology cardio-oncology guidelines 2022 [24]; AHA, American Heart Association 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure [25]; ANOVA p-value/chi-squared (χ2) test for comparison between LV mass-tertile 1, LV mass-tertile 2, and LV mass-tertile 3 of female cancer patients. Normal distributed variables are presented as means ± SEM, non-normally distributed variables as median (interquartile range) and nominal variables as n (%), p-values <0.05 are bold