Is Diabetes Mellitus a Prognostic Factor for Survival in Patients with Small Cell Lung Cancer?

Background: Previous studies have pointed to many different prognostic factors for small cell lung cancer(SCLC) but diabetes mellitus (DM) has not been clearly or consistently identified as of prognostic value. The aimof this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of the characteristics of patients and clinical laboratorytests in SCLC. Specifically, we investigated that the impact of DM for survival in the patients receiving first-lineetoposide plus cisplatin (EP) chemotherapy.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 161 patients with SCLC witha focus on DM and other potential prognostic variables were chosen for univariate and multivariate analyseswith respect to survival.
Result: Among the sixteen variables of univariate analysis, five were identified to haveprognostic significance: performance status (PS) (p <0.001), stage (p=0.001), DM (p=0.005), serum albumin (p<0.001) and hemoglobin levels (p=0.03). Multivariate analysis showed PS, stage and serum albumin level tobe independent prognostic factors for survival (p=0.02, p=0.02 and p=0.009 respectively), but DM was not anindependnet factor.
Conclusion: In conclusion, PS, stage and serum albumin level were identified as importantprognostic factors, while DM at the time of diagnosis of SCLC did not have prognostic importance for survival.