Comorbidity is Independently Associated with Poor Outcome in Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcoma

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity has not been examined as an independent prognostic factor in soft tissue sarcoma (STS). We examined the prognostic impact of comorbidity on oncologic outcome in STS with an adjustment for possible confounding factors. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed on 349 patients who had undergone surgery for high-grade localized STS of extremity at our institute. Conditions known to alter the risk of mortality, as defined in the Charlson comorbidity index, were classified as comorbidities and 43 patients (12%) had at least one comorbidity at the time of surgery. The association of comorbidity and oncologic outcomes of local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were tested with adjustment for confounding factors. RESULTS: Comorbidity was associated with old age, high tumor grade, and large tumor size. The presence of comorbidity was independently associated with poor LRFS and DSS, even after adjusting for confounding factors including age and treatment variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the presence of comorbidity is an independent prognostic factor for extremity STS.