A web-based prediction model for overall survival of elderly patients with early renal cell carcinoma: a population-based study

BACKGROUND: The number of elderly patients with early renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is on the rise. However, there is still a lack of accurate prediction models for the prognosis of early RCC in elderly patients. It is necessary to establish a new nomogram to predict the prognosis of elderly patients with early RCC. METHODS: The data of patients aged above 65 years old with TNM stage I and II RCC were downloaded from the SEER database between 2010 and 2018. The patients from 2010 to 2017 were randomly assigned to the training cohort (n = 7233) and validation cohort (n = 3024). Patient data in 2018(n = 1360) was used for external validation. We used univariable and multivariable Cox regression model to evaluate independent prognostic factors and constructed a nomogram to predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of patients with early-stage RCC. Multiple parameters were used to validate the nomogram, including the consistency index (C-index), the calibration plots, the area under the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve, and the decision curve analysis (DCA). RESULTS: The study included a total of 11,617 elderly patients with early RCC. univariable and multivariable Cox regression analysis based on predictive variables such as age, sex, histologic type, Fuhrman grade, T stage, surgery type, tumors number, tumor size, and marriage were included to establish a nomogram. The C-index of the training cohort and validation cohort were 0.748 (95% CI: 0.760–0.736) and 0.744 (95% CI: 0.762–0.726), respectively. In the external validation cohort, C-index was 0.893 (95% CI: 0.928–0.858). The calibration plots basically coincides with the diagonal, indicating that the observed OS was almost equal to the predicted OS. It was shown in DCA that the nomogram has more important clinical significance than the traditional TNM stage. CONCLUSION: A novel nomogram was developed to assess the prognosis of an elderly patient with early RCC and to predict prognosis and formulate treatment and follow-up strategies.