Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of men with advanced-stage cancer
| Measurement | All men n = 148 |
LV mass/height2 < 59.58 g/m2 (1st tertile, n = 48) | LV mass/height2 ≥ 59.58– < 74.06 g/m2 (2nd tertile, n = 51) | LV mass/height2 ≥ 74.06 g/m2 (3rd tertile, n = 49) | p-value, ANOVA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical variables | |||||
| Age (years) | 62 ± 1.1 | 63 ± 2.4 | 61 ± 1.8 | 63 ± 1.6 | 0.53 |
| Body mass index, BMI (kg/m2) | 25.1 ± 0.4 | 22.4 ± 0.5###, *** | 26.4 ± 0.6 | 26.4 ± 0.7 | < 0.001 |
| Wasting syndrome with unintentional weight loss, n (%) | 67 (45) | 32 (67)##, ** | 17 (33) | 18 (37) | 0.001 |
| Markers of the GH-IGF-I axis | |||||
| Growth hormone, GH (ng/mL) | 0.91 (0.26–2.34) | 2.11 (0.77–3.22)##, ** | 0.56 (0.12–1.65) | 0.70 (0.19–1.89) | 0.003 |
| Insulin-like growth factor-I, IGF-I (ng/mL) | 73.6 (46.6–107.2) | 73.4 (49.6–108.8) | 78.3 (51.8–113.4) | 68.9 (42.6–107.7) | 0.98 |
| Log IGF-I/GH ratio | 1.95 ± 0.06 | 1.64 ± 0.09###, ** | 2.14 ± 0.11 | 2.04 ± 0.11 | 0.002 |
| Growth hormone binding protein, GHBP (pmol/L) | 325 (108–857) | 413 (159–972) | 233 (95–598) | 293 (89–950) | 0.44 |
| IGF-I binding protein 3, IGFBP3 (µg/mL) | 1.45 ± 0.05 | 1.41 ± 0.08 | 1.49 ± 0.08 | 1.47 ± 0.08 | 0.75 |
| Cancer and anti-cancer therapy details | |||||
| Cancer stage III/IV, n (%) | 127 (86) | 43 (90) | 44 (86) | 40 (82) | 0.54 |
| Solid cancer, n (%) | 72 (49) | 28 (58) | 18 (35) | 26 (53) | 0.05 |
| ECOG Performance Scale points | 1.49 ± 0.09 | 1.54 ± 0.17 | 1.25 ± 0.15 | 1.67 ± 0.17 | 0.18 |
| Karnofsky Index (%) | 76.2 ± 1.6 | 72.7 ± 3.0 | 81.6 ± 2.5 | 73.9 ± 2.8 | 0.05 |
| Systemic anti-cancer therapy naïve, n (%) | 16 (11) | 7 (15) | 5 (10) | 4 (8) | 0.55 |
| Cancer drugs causing heart failure (ESC guidelines ‘22), n (%) | 72 (49) | 27 (56) | 23 (45) | 22 (45) | 0.46 |
| Cancer therapies associated with cardiomyopathy (AHA ‘22), n (%) | 99 (67) | 36 (75) | 35 (69) | 28 (57) | 0.17 |
| Side diagnosis | |||||
| Anemia, n (%) | 113 (76) | 42 (86)## | 32 (63) | 39 (80) | 0.014 |
| Arterial hypertension, n (%) | 65 (44) | 21 (44) | 19 (37) | 25 (51) | 0.39 |
| Hypercholesterolemia, n (%) | 23 (16) | 5 (10) | 7 (14) | 11 (22) | 0.26 |
| Type II diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 23 (16) | 7 (15) | 8 (16) | 8 (16) | 1.00 |
| Chronic kidney disease, n (%) | 12 (8) | 2 (4) | 3 (6) | 7 (14) | 0.17 |
| Medication | |||||
| ACE inhibitors/ARBs, n (%) | 37 (25) | 9 (19) | 11 (22) | 17 (35) | 0.17 |
| Beta-blockers, n (%) | 25 (17) | 9 (19) | 6 (11) | 10 (21) | 0.48 |
| Anticoagulants, n (%) | 6 (4) | 1 (2) | 0 | 5 (10) | 0.023 |
| Diuretics, n (%) | 26 (18) | 8 (17) | 7 (14) | 11 (22) | 0.55 |
| Antidepressants, n (%) | 17 (12) | 6 (13) | 6 (12) | 5 (10) | 0.95 |
| Opioids, n (%) | 28 (19) | 11 (23) | 5 (10) | 12 (25) | 0.11 |
| Corticosteroids, n (%) | 55 (37) | 22 (46) | 19 (37) | 14 (29) | 0.23 |
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; ESC, European Society of Cardiology cardio-oncology guidelines 2022; AHA, American Heart Association 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure; ANOVA p-value/chi-squared (χ2) test for comparison between LV mass-tertile 1, LV mass-tertile 2, and LV mass-tertile 3 of male 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