Table 1.
Univariate analysis of baseline clinical characteristics to identify factors related to serum GDF-15 levels in patients with metastatic APC.
| Variables | Serum GDF-15 Levels | p-Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High | |||
| Sex | Male | 42 (64.6%) | 19 (55.9%) | 0.514 |
| Female | 23 (35.4%) | 15 (44.1%) | ||
| Age (years) | Median (range) | 67.0 (39–85) | 65.9 (50–85) | 0.665 |
| KPS | Median (range) | 90 (60–100) | 80 (60–100) | 0.037 |
| ECOG-PS | 0 | 36 (56.3%) | 9 (31.0%) | 0.049 |
| 1 | 25 (39.1%) | 16 (55.2%) | ||
| 2 | 3 (4.7%) | 4 (13.8%) | ||
| Chemotherapy | Yes | 61 (93.9%) | 26 (76.5%) | 0.020 |
| Regimen | GEM + nab-PTX | 2 (3.3%) | 1 (3.8%) | 0.738 |
| Modified FOLFIRINOX | 10 (16.4%) | 4 (15.4%) | ||
| GEM monotherapy | 16 (26.2%) | 10 (38.5%) | ||
| GEM + Erlotinib | 23 (37.7%) | 9 (34.6%) | ||
| others | 10 (16.4%) | 2 (7.7%) | ||
| CEA (ng/mL) | Median (range) | 14.8 (0.9–363.4) | 26.4 (1.3–1441.0) | 0.247 |
| CA19-9 (U/mL) | Median (range) | 2995.0 (0.1–330,600.0) | 10771.5 (0.5–343,352.0) | 0.019 |
| Ascites | Present | 34 (52.3%) | 14 (41.2%) | 0.397 |
| Peritoneal metastasis | Present | 28 (43.1%) | 19 (55.9%) | 0.290 |
| Biliary Drainage before starting chemotherapy | Present | 8 (12.3%) | 5 (14.7%) | 0.760 |
| Lung metastasis | Present | 14 (21.5%) | 6 (17.7%) | 0.794 |
| Distant lymph node metastasis | Present | 4 (6.1%) | 5 (14.7%) | 0.268 |
| Serum CRP levels (mg/dL) | Median (range) | 1.20 (0.03–18.58) | 3.22 (0.06–21.72) | 0.009 |
| Cachexia | Cachexia | 37 (56.9%) | 17 (50.0%) | 0.531 |
| Non-cachexia | 28 (43.1%) | 17 (50.0%) | ||
| Sarcopenia | Sarcopenia | 19 (33.9%) | 10 (52.6%) | 0.179 |
| Non-sarcopenia | 37 (66.1%) | 9 (47.4%) | ||
| SMI (kg/m2) | Median (range) | 44.26 (27.40–52.10) | 40.14 (28.28–52.88) | 0.203 |
| MDASI-J appetite loss | Median (range) | 1 (0–10) | 4 (0–10) | 0.011 |
| Body weight loss (%) | Median (range) | 5.74 (−17.42–22.81) | 5.03 (−1.72–30.00) | 0.690 |
Fisher’s exact test or the chi-square test were used for comparisons of categorical variables between the low-GDF-15 group (serum GDF-15 level < 3356.6 pg/mL) and the high-GDF-15 group (serum GDF-15 level ≥ 3356.6 pg/mL). KPS, Karnofsky performance status; ECOG-PS, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status; GEM, gemcitabine; nab-PTX, nab-paclitaxlel; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CA19-9, carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CRP, C-reactive protein; SMI, skeletal muscle mass index; MDASI-J, Japanese version of the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory.