Table 4. Univariate and multivariate analysis for disease recurrence and death from breast cancer in patients without detectable CK-19 mRNA (+) cells before chemotherapy.

	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
Disease-free survival
Tumour size (T3 vs T2 vs T1)a	1.30 (0.84–2.01)	0.235	—b	—b
Tumour grade (grade III vs I, II, lobular)	1.90 (1.10–3.29)	0.022	1.79 (1.03–3.11)	0.038
Lymph nodes (N>3 vs N0–3 vs N0)a	2.37 (1.60–3.51)	<0.001	2.34 (1.57–3.49)	<0.001
Hormone-receptor expression (neg vs pos)c	1.07 (0.58–1.99)	0.822	—b	—b
Chemotherapy (taxane-free vs taxane-based)	1.22 (0.70–2.11)	0.482	—b	—b
Overall survival
Tumour size (T3 vs T2 vs T1)a	1.74 (0.93–3.26)	0.084	—b	—b
Tumour grade (grade III vs I, II, lobular)	2.33 (1.04–5.23)	0.040	2.23 (1.00–5.01)	0.051
Lymph nodes (N>3 vs N0–3 vs N0)a	3.08 (1.66–5.71)	<0.001	3.07 (1.65–5.75)	<0.001
Hormone-receptor expression (neg vs pos)c	1.58 (0.69–3.62)	0.276	—b	—b
Chemotherapy (taxane-free vs taxane-based)	1.22 (0.56–2.65)	0.616	—b	—b

Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; HR=hazard ratio.

^aThe hazard ratio represents the linear trend across categories.

^bNo estimate of relative risk is given, since the variable was not significant on univariate analysis.

^cFor either oestrogen or progesterone receptors.