The Impact of Co-morbidity on Life Expectancy Among Men with Localized Prostate Cancer

PURPOSE: We evaluated 3 indexes used to assess patient co-morbidities to determine whether they could predict mortality among men with clinically localized prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured the impact of co-morbidity classifications on all cause mortality using a parametric proportional hazards model based on a retrospective cohort analysis. RESULTS: Each index tested is a highly significant predictor of mortality for patients dying of nonprostate cancer related causes after adjusting for age and Gleason score. CONCLUSIONS: Each co-morbidity index provides significant, independent predictive information concerning patient mortality beyond that provided by age, Gleason score and clinical stage alone.