Table 2. . Variables associated with relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival and overall survival among all patients with node-positive cutaneous melanoma (n = 385).
| Variable | Classification | RFS | DMFS | OS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cox MV analysis | Cox MV analysis | Cox MV analysis | ||||||||
| KM 5-yr | HR (95% CI) | p-value | KM 5-yr | HR (95% CI) | p-value | KM 5-yr | HR (95% CI) | p-value | ||
| Age (years) | – | NS | – | NS | 1.01 (1.00–1.01) | 0.105 | ||||
| Sex | Female | 52.6 | Ref. | – | 51.5 | Ref. | – | 54.5 | Ref. | – |
| Male | 30.3 | 1.62 (1.22–2.15) | < 0.001 | 33.9 | 1.54 (1.16–2.05) | 0.003 | 42.2 | 1.51 (1.13–2.04) | 0.006 | |
| Tumor T stage | T1/T2 | 61.1 | Ref. | – | 67.0 | Ref. | – | 76.4 | Ref. | – |
| T3/T4 | 30.8 | 1.89 (1.30–2.75) | 0.001 | 32.5 | 2.09 (1.42–3.07) | < 0.001 | 38.5 | 2.36 (1.55–3.60) | < 0.001 | |
| T0 | 46.2 | 0.76 (0.40–1.44) | 0.405 | 46.2 | 0.98 (0.51–1.86) | 0.94 | 52.6 | 0.90 (0.45–1.80) | 0.757 | |
| LND site | Groin | 38.7 | Ref. | – | 36.9 | Ref. | – | 44.3 | Ref. | – |
| Head and neck | 31.5 | – | NS | 31.3 | – | NS | 40.7 | – | NS | |
| Axilla | 39.2 | – | NS | 43.3 | – | NS | 48.5 | – | NS | |
| LNs positive (N) | 1.05 (1.01–1.08) | 0.005 | 1.06 (1.02–1.09) | 0.001 | 1.04 (1.01–1.07) | 0.017 | ||||
| Tumor N stage | N1a/N2a | 49.2 | Ref. | – | 50.7 | Ref. | – | 57.2 | Ref. | – |
| N1b/N2b/N3 | 21.5 | 1.88 (1.39–2.55) | < 0.001 | 24.4 | 1.61 (1.18–2.19) | 0.002 | 31.0 | 1.48 (1.08–2.03) | 0.014 | |
| Extranodal extension | Absent | 46.3 | Ref. | – | 48.8 | Ref. | – | 57.6 | Ref. | – |
| Present | 19.8 | 2.25 (1.62–3.13) | < 0.001 | 20.5 | 1.87 (1.34–2.61) | < 0.001 | 23.7 | 1.81 (1.30–2.52) | < 0.001 | |
| LN size (cm) | ≤2 | 44.3 | Ref. | – | 46.5 | Ref. | – | 55.5 | Ref. | 0.06 |
| >2 | 26.6 | 1.27 (0.95–1.70) | 0.103 | 28.3 | 1.39 (1.04–1.86) | 0.027 | 31.4 | 1.43 (1.06–1.93) | 0.021 | |
| Unknown | 44.0 | 0.96 (0.66–1.39) | 0.824 | 46.8 | 1.05 (0.72–1.52) | 0.816 | 54.5 | 1.07 (0.73–1.58) | 0.718 | |
| Regional RT | No | 38.5 | Ref. | – | 43.0 | Ref. | – | 49.9 | Ref. | – |
| Yes | 28.2 | 2.05 (1.37–3.08) | 0.001 | 25.1 | 1.61 (1.07–2.44) | 0.044 | 31.2 | – | NS | |
| Adjuvant interferon | No | 40.2 | Ref. | – | 36.0 | Ref. | – | 40.6 | Ref. | – |
| Yes | 25.8 | 0.55 (0.42–0.74) | < 0.001 | 47.9 | 0.59 (0.44–0.79) | < 0.001 | 56.9 | 0.61 (0.44–0.84) | 0.003 | |
DMFS: Distant metastasis-free survival; HR: Hazard ratio; KM: Kaplan–Meier; LN: Lymph node; LND: Lymph node dissection; MV: Multivariate; NS: Not significant; OS: Overall survival; RFS: Relapse-free survival; RT: Radiation therapy; UV: Univariate.