Analyzing multiple risk factors in patients with sarcomas. A case-control study

Abstract

Context: Sarcomas are a rare group of malignancies. Very little is known about their risk factors.

Aims: The aim was to evaluate different risk factors in patients with sarcomas and to determine the median age at diagnosis, differences in race, gender, histological grades and staging in sarcoma patients.

Settings and design: A retrospective case-control study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in the USA. This included patients diagnosed with sarcomas from year 2000 to 2010.

Materials and methods: Data were extracted with the help of electronic medical records using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth revision codes. Healthy, matched controls were randomly selected from the same tertiary care hospital database.

Statistical analysis: Univariate comparisons between cases and controls were done using a two-group independent t-test for age and using Chi-square tests for the categorical variables. In order to identify possible independent predictors of sarcomas, a multiple logistic regression model was constructed using sarcoma status as the dependent variable and using, initially, all variables with a univariate P < 0.2 as independent variables. Variables were reduced in a manual stepwise manner to arrive at a final model. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. All analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).

Results: A total of 425 sarcoma patients and 429 age, sex and race matched healthy controls were analyzed in this study. We found that a history of smoking and alcoholism was significantly associated with sarcomas. We also found that the history of cancer in first-degree relatives had a significant relationship. In addition, patients with sarcomas are more likely to have a history of another malignancy when compared with controls.

Conclusions: Smoking and alcohol are potential risk factors for sarcomas. In addition, a history of cancer in the first-degree relative is also a potential risk factor. Patients with sarcomas are likely to have a history of another malignancy when compared with controls.