Table 2.
Associations between investigated factors and post-treatment ambulatory status
| Factor | Subgroup (n) | Ambulatory after treatment, n (%) | p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | ≤ 65 years (275) | 71 (26) | 0.90 |
| > 65 years (270) | 71 (26) | ||
| Interval FD to MSCC | ≤ 15 months (383) | 99 (26) | 0.87 |
| > 15 months (162) | 43 (27) | ||
| Visceral metastases | No (114) | 29 (25) | 0.87 |
| Yes (431) | 113 (26) | ||
| Further bone metastases | No (126) | 35 (28) | 0.62 |
| Yes (419) | 107 (26) | ||
| Primary tumor type | Breast cancer (57) | 16 (28) | < 0.001 |
| Prostate cancer (74) | 9 (12) | ||
| Myeloma/lymphoma (24) | 13 (54) | ||
| Lung cancer (175) | 54 (31) | ||
| Other malignancies (215) | 50 (23) | ||
| Sex | Female (170) | 48 (28) | 0.43 |
| Male (375) | 94 (25) | ||
| Time developing motor deficits | 0–7 days (309) | 40 (13) | < 0.0001 |
| 8–14 days (122) | 39 (32) | ||
| > 14 days (114) | 63 (55) | ||
| Ambulatory prior to radiotherapy | No (375) | 24 (6) | < 0.0001 |
| Yes (170) | 118 (69) | ||
| Number of affected vertebrae | 1–2 (192) | 70 (36) | < 0.0001 |
| ≥ 3 (353) | 72 (20) | ||
| Radiotherapy regimen | 1 × 8 Gy/5 × 4 Gy (239) | 9 (16) | 0.40 |
| 5 × 5 Gy/longer-course RT (306) | 133 (27) | ||
| Entire cohort | N = 545 | 142 (26) |
FD First diagnosis of malignancy, MSCC Metastatic spinal cord compression, RT Radiotherapy
p values were calculated with the Chi-square test. When applying Bonferroni adjustment, p values of < 0.005 were considered significant and are given in bold