Table 1. Patient characteristics and associations with CTC counts.
|
No. of patients with ⩾5 CTC |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
|
|
|
Multivariate logistic GLM model |
|
|
| Variable | All patients | No. of patients with ⩾1 CTC | Univariate | Effect estimator (95% CI) | P-value | No. of patients with ⩾80 CTC |
| |
154 (100%) |
105 (68%) |
70 (46%) |
— |
— |
20 (13.0%) |
|
Age | ||||||
| <Median | 77 (50%) | 49 (64%) | 30 (39%) | 1 | — | 9 (12%) |
| ⩾Median | 77 (50%) | 56 (73%) | 40 (52%) | 1.8 (0.9–3.9) | 0.122 | 11 (14%) |
| |
|
P=0.226 |
P=0.106 |
|
|
P=0.632 |
|
Molecular subgroup | ||||||
| Luminal A | 56 (36%) | 39 (70%) | 29 (52%) | 1 | — | 11 (20%) |
| Luminal B–HER2-negative | 29 (19%) | 16 (55%) | 10 (35%) | 0.7 (0.2–2.2) | 0.593 | 2 (7%) |
| Luminal B–HER2-positive | 35 (23%) | 21 (60%) | 16 (46%) | 2.1 (0.8–6.1) | 0.154 | 1 (3%) |
| HER2-positive (non-luminal) | 14 (9%) | 12 (86%) | 7 (50%) | 1.9 (0.5–7.6) | 0.335 | 1 (7%) |
| Triple negative | 16 (10%) | 13 (81%) | 8 (50%) | 2.1 (0.5–8.0) | 0.292 | 5 (31%) |
| Not classified (missing data) | 4 (3%) | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
|
P=0.165 |
P=0.651 |
|
|
P=0.024 |
|
Histological subtype | ||||||
| Invasive ductal carcinomaa | 128 (83%) | 83 (65%) | 48 (38%) | 1 | — | 12 (9%) |
| Invasive lobular carcinomab | 25 (16%) | 21 (84%) | 21 (84%) | 12.2 (3.2–45.0) | <0.001 | 8 (32%) |
| Missing data | 1 (1%) | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
|
P=0.060 |
P<0.001 |
|
|
P=0.002 |
|
Number of organs involved | ||||||
| <3 | 89 (58%) | 56 (63%) | 33 (37%) | 1 | — | 9 (10%) |
| ⩾3 | 65 (42%) | 49 (75%) | 37 (57%) | 1.7 (0.8–3.8) | 0.177 | 11 (17%) |
| |
|
P=0.101 |
P=0.015 |
|
|
P=0.214 |
|
Bone metastasis | ||||||
| Absent | 45 (29%) | 21 (47%) | 9 (20%) | 1 | 4 (9%) | |
| Present | 108 (70%) | 84 (78%) | 61 (57%) | 5.5 (2.3–13.6) | <0.001 | 16 (15%) |
| Missing data | 1 (1%) | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
|
P<0.001 |
P<0.001 |
|
|
P=0.322 |
|
Visceral metastasis | ||||||
| Absent | 67 (44%) | 45 (67%) | 30 (45%) | 1 | — | 8 (12%) |
| Present | 87 (56%) | 60 (69%) | 40 (46%) | 1.5 (0.6–3.5) | 0.358 | 12 (14%) |
| P=0.812 | P=0.882 | P=0.735 | ||||
Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; CTC=circulating tumour cells; GLM=generalised linear regression model. Bold values indicate significant P-values (P<0.05).
a
Including one patient with invasive medullar carcinoma and one patient with mixed invasive ductal and apocrine carcinoma.
b
Including three patients with mixed invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma.