Table 1.
Characteristics of Eligible Patients
| Thalidomide Plus Dexamethasone (n = 235) |
Dexamethasone (n = 235) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | No. | % | No. | % | P |
| Age, years | .624 | ||||
| Mean | 64.0 | 64.4 | |||
| Standard deviation | 10.17 | 9.57 | |||
| Range | 39-86 | 31-84 | |||
| Sex | .927 | ||||
| Male | 118 | 50.2 | 120 | 51.1 | |
| Female | 117 | 49.8 | 115 | 48.9 | |
| Durie Salmon staging | .290 | ||||
| I/II | 78 | 33.2 | 90 | 38.3 | |
| III | 157 | 66.8 | 145 | 61.7 | |
| ECOG performance status |
.258 | ||||
| 0 | 40 | 17.0 | 54 | 23.0 | |
| 1 | 124 | 52.8 | 112 | 47.7 | |
| 2 | 70 | 68 | 28.9 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.4 | |
| Missing | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Type of M protein | .775 | ||||
| IgG | 179 | 76.2 | 169 | 71.9 | |
| IgA | 48 | 20.4 | 55 | 23.4 | |
| IgM | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | |
| Biclonal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Light-chain only | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Missing | 7 | 3.0 | 10 | 4.3 | |
| Prior radiotherapy | .99 | ||||
| Yes | 28 | 11.9 | 29 | 12.3 | |
| No | 207 | 88.1 | 206 | 87.7 | |
| β-2 microglobulin | 200 | 85.1 | 199 | 84.7 | .922 |
| > 2.5 mg/L | |||||
| Lytic bone lesions | 185 | 78.7 | 188 | 8.0 | .909 |
Abbreviations: ECOG, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; Ig, immunoglobulin.