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Factors Affecting Life Expectancy After Bone Metastasis in Adults — Results of a 5-year Prospective Study

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Abstract

There is a scarcity of literature available regarding the factors affecting life expectancy in bone metastasis (BM). Our objective is to evaluate the factors affecting life expectancy in adult patients with BM. In this prospective cohort study for over 5 years, 111 adults with BM were included in the analysis. The life expectancy was calculated from the time of diagnosis of BM to death. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS statistical program. The Pearson chi-square test was used to analyze the significance and life expectancy was represented on the Kaplan Meier curve. The overall median survival time was 9 months. The patients with a primary malignancy detected along with BM had a median survival of 9 months. Those without a known primary at the time of diagnosis survived for a median period of 8 months and those with known primary for 14 months (P-value 0.01). The median survival of patients with BM from the lung, breast, and prostate was 6, 14, and 24 months, respectively (P-value 0.001). Only 22% of patients with extraskeletal metastasis in addition to BM survived more than 6 months (P-value 0.013). Patients with neurological deficits had a median survival of 2 months (P-value 0.0001). There was no statistically significant association between gender and the mode of treatment and survival. There was a significant association between life expectancy and mode of presentation, the primary site of origin, presence of extraskeletal secondary, BM with unknown primary, and symptoms on presentation in patients with BM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Government Medical College, Kozhikkode, Kerala, 673008, India

    Balaji Zacharia, Jerin Joy, Dhiyaneswaran Subramaniam & Puneeth Katapadi Pai

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  1. Balaji Zacharia
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The corresponding author conceived of the presented idea. He and the second author together design the methodology, collected the data, analyzed the data, and made conclusion. We together wrote the primary draft and later revised and edited it to its present form. The third and fourth authors helped in the statistical analysis and editing and rewriting of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Balaji Zacharia.

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Flow chart showing the selection of participants included in the study

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Zacharia, B., Joy, J., Subramaniam, D. et al. Factors Affecting Life Expectancy After Bone Metastasis in Adults — Results of a 5-year Prospective Study. Indian J Surg Oncol 12, 759–769 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13193-021-01426-1

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