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. 2020 Nov 17;159(3):1256–1264. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.10.081

Table 2.

Risk Factors for Pleural Effusion Recurrence Requiring Intervention in Patients With Biopsy-Proven or Strong Clinical Evidence of Metastatic Disease at 100 Days

Covariate Univariate Model
Multivariate Model
SHR 95% CI P Value SHR 95% CI P Value
Histologic findings
 Lung adenocarcinoma 1.000
 Lung squamous cell carcinoma 0.918 0.576-1.465 .723
 Lung, unspecified 0.776 0.469-1.284 .325
Age 0.999 0.9868188-1.012387 .941
Male sex 1.104 0.822661-1.482548 .509
CHF present 1.271 0.6618541-2.444204 .471
Ascites present 1.659 0.6700529-4.10834 .274
High clinical suspicion of pneumonia 1.153 0.769207-1.731177 .489
Chemotherapy within 30 d before thoracentesis 1.241 0.9229143-1.670758 .153
Radiation within 30 d before thoracentesis 0.948 0.6154011-1.462989 .812
Chemotherapy within 30 d after thoracentesis 0.940 0.6935878-1.276578 .696
Contralateral effusion present 0.794 0.5768333-1.094897 .160
Size of the effusion on chest radiography
 Blunting of costophrenic angle 1.000 1.000
 Above 1 and up to the vascular pedicle 3.021041 1.358069-6.720344 .007 2.670 1.1971-5.956 .016
 Above 2 and up to the top of the cardiac silhouette 5.221265 2.37956-11.45658 < .001 4.218 1.9159-9.289 .001
 Above the cardiac silhouette 3.841847 1.603659-9.203818 .003 3.631 1.5244-8.650 .004
Amount of fluid drained, 100-mL increments 1.038 1.0111-1.0649 .006
Fluid LDH, 100-IU/L increments 1.0066 1.0041-1.0091 < .001 1.0069 1.0035-1.0103 < .001
Fluid protein, 1-g/dL increments 1.01581 1.010328-1.021323 < .001
Fluid cholesterol, 1-mg/dL increments .9991036 0.9934539-1.004785 .757
Fluid triglycerides, 10-mg/dL increments .9968247 0.9892062-1.004502 .417
Cytologic results positive 2.207 1.54658-3.149714 < .001 1.804 1.1673-2.7883 .008
Mutation present 1.487246 1.069992-2.067213 .018 1.429558 0.9543335-2.141427 .083

CHF = congestive heart failure; LDH = lactate dehydrogenase; SHR = subhazard ratio.