Education level as a predictor of survival in patients with multiple myeloma

BMC Cancer

Table 2 Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics between patients with high and low education levels

Variables	Low education level		High education level		P
Variables	N = 535	(%)	N = 226	(%)	P
Age					< 0.001
< 60	261	48.8	144	63.7
≥ 60	274	51.2	82	36.3
Sex					0.002
Male	284	53.1	147	65.0
Female	251	46.9	79	35.0
Smoking					0.183
Yes	158	29.5	56	24.8
No	377	70.5	170	75.2
Marital status					0.657
Married	515	96.3	216	95.6
Other	20	3.7	10	4.4
Residential area					< 0.001
Urban	326	60.9	214	94.7
Rural	209	39.1	12	5.3
Distance to hospital					0.287
Same province	458	85.6	200	88.5
Different province	77	14.4	26	11.5
Occupational status					< 0.001
Employed	68	13.1	76	33.8
Unemployed	453	86.9	149	66.2
Average annual income					< 0.001
< $42,500 USD	464	94.5	131	59.3
≥ $42,500 USD	27	5.5	90	40.7
Insurance status					< 0.001
Any insurance	88	17.8	86	39.6
No insurance	405	82.2	131	60.4
Comorbidity					< 0.003
Yes	362	67.7	127	56.2
No	173	32.3	99	43.8
Time to diagnosis					< 0.001
≤ 1 month	100	18.7	79	35.0
> 1 months	435	81.3	147	65.0
ISS stage					0.014
I/II	351	67.5	172	76.4
III	169	32.5	53	23.6
LDH
≥ 240 U/L	115	23.1	26	13.0	0.003
< 240 U/L	383	76.9	174	87.0
Cytogenetics					0.768
High risk	96	24.5	38	23.3
Standard risk	296	75.5	125	76.7
Receipt of transplant					< 0.001
Yes	149	27.9	134	59.3
No	386	72.2	92	40.7
Regular treatment					< 0.001
Yes	325	60.7	198	87.6
No	210	39.3	28	12.4

ISSN: 1471-2407