The aim of this study was to determine whether apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) kinetics predict the overall survival in patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) during platinum-based first-line therapy. A total of 125 NSCLC patients from January 2008 to September 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Serum ApoA-I level was measured at baseline and thereafter at the start of each palliative chemotherapy cycle for all patients. Patients were divided into four groups according to ApoA-I kinetics. Patients whose ApoA-I ≥ 1.01 g/L and never decreased during treatment, patients whose ApoA-I ≥ 1.01 g/L and decreased (ApoA-I < 1.01 g/L) at least one time during treatment, patients whose ApoA-I < 1.01 g/L and normalized (ApoA-I ≥ 1.01) at least one time during treatment, and patients whose ApoA-I < 1.01 g/L and never normalized during treatment were assigned to non-decreased, decreased, normalized, and non-normalized ApoA-I groups, respectively. Overall survival rates were significantly different between the four groups, with 2-year survival rates of 88.6 and 17.5 % for the non-decreased and the decreased ApoA-I groups, respectively, and none survived 2 years later in the normalized and the non-normalized ApoA-I groups. When compared with the non-decreased group, the hazard ratios of death were 0.05, 0.44, and 1.73 in the normalized, decreased, and non-normalized groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Normalization of ApoA-I was associated with a low risk of progression, whereas patients with a decreased level of ApoA-I showed a progression of disease in most cases. ApoA-I can be a novel, widely available biomarker for patients with NSCLC.
Background
Lewy body dementia (LBD), consisting of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), is the second most common type of neurodegenerative dementia in older people. The current study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of LBD in Chinese memory clinics.
Methods
A total of 8405 dementia medical records were reviewed, revealing 455 patients with LBD. Demographic data, neuropsychological scores, and the scale for Medial Temporal lobe Atrophy (MTA) were then analyzed from nine memory clinics in the China Lewy Body Disease Collaborative Alliance.
Results
The clinical proportion of LBD among the subjects and among all dementia types was 5.4% (4.9–5.9%) and 7.3% (6.7–8.0%), respectively, with a mean onset age of 68.6 ± 8.4 years. Patients with DLB comprised 5.6% (n = 348, age of onset 69.1 ± 8.3), while PDD comprised 1.7% (n = 107, age of onset 66.7 ± 8.8) of all dementia cases. There were slightly more males than females with DLB (n = 177, 50.9%) and PDD (n = 62, 57.9%). Patients with DLB had a poorer performance compared to those with PDD on the MMSE (16.8 ± 7.1 vs. 19.5 ± 5.7, p = 0.001), the MoCA (11.4 ± 6.6 vs. 14.0 ± 5.8, p<0.001), the CDR (1.8 ± 0.7 vs. 1.6 ± 0.7, p = 0.002), and the MTA (1.8 ± 0.7 vs. 1.2 ± 0.6, p = 0.002). Diagnostic differences for LBD exist among the centers; their reported proportions of those with DLB ranged from 0.7 to 11.4 and those with PDD ranged from 0.0 to 2.9%.
Conclusions
Variations of diagnoses exists in different regions and the clinical proportion of LBD is likely to be underestimated in China and other regions.
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