Flexible modeling improves assessment of prognostic value of C-reactive protein in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Background:C-reactive protein (CRP) is gaining credibility as a prognostic factor in different cancers. Cox's proportional hazard (PH) model is usually used to assess prognostic factors. However, this model imposes a priori assumptions, which are rarely tested, that (1) the hazard ratio associated with each prognostic factor remains constant across the follow-up (PH assumption) and (2) the relationship between a continuous predictor and the logarithm of the mortality hazard is linear (linearity assumption).Methods:We tested these two assumptions of the Cox's PH model for CRP, using a flexible statistical model, while adjusting for other known prognostic factors, in a cohort of 269 patients newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Results:In the Cox's PH model, high CRP increased the risk of death (HR1.11 per each doubling of CRP value, 95% CI: 1.03-1.20, P0.008). However, both the PH assumption (P0.033) and the linearity assumption (P0.015) were rejected for CRP, measured at the initiation of chemotherapy, which kept its prognostic value for approximately 18 months.Conclusion:Our analysis shows that flexible modeling provides new insights regarding the value of CRP as a prognostic factor in NSCLC and that Cox's PH model underestimates early risks associated with high CRP. © 2010 Cancer Research UK All rights reserved.