Original Article


Hyponatremia in small cell lung cancer is associated with a poorer prognosis

Wenxian Wang, Zhengbo Song, Yiping Zhang

Abstract

Backgrounds: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death globally. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) occurs in 15–20% of lung cancer. Hyponatremia is reported approximately 15% of SCLC. The aim of this retrospective study is to investigate the association between hyponatremia and prognosis of SCLC.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of 631 patients with SCLC from July 2006 to September 2013 in Zhejiang cancer hospital. Overall survival (OS) was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate regression was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results: Hyponatremia was present in 16.3% (103/631) of all cases. Severe hyponatremia was detected in 8.1% (51/631). Hyponatremia group was associated with significantly shorter median survival than normal group (all patients: 11.4 vs. 14.5 months, P<0.001). There was significant difference in median survival between pre-treatment hyponatremia and during treatment (9.3 vs. 13.4 months, P=0.017). In the hyponatremia group, multivariate analyses revealed that severe hyponatremia level was an independent factor for patients with SCLC (P=0.007).Conclusions: The retrospective study indicates that hyponatremia is an independent prognosis factor and the severe hyponatremia seems to constitute a worse prognosis in patients with SCLC.

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