ArticlePloS one2018
The prevalence of deranged C-reactive protein and albumin in patients with incurable cancer approaching death.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cancer- and cardiac-induced cachexia: same fate through different inflammatory mediators?Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- A health-system-scale, episode-resolved multimodal atlas of cancer cachexia.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- The importance of systemic inflammatory response measurements as pretransplant risk factors for outcome after allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation.British journal of haematology · 2025Article
- A health-system-scale, episode-resolved multimodal atlas of cancer cachexia.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Predicting mortality dynamics in cancer patients: A machine learning approach to pre-death events.PloS one · 2025Article
- Cancer cachexia: biomarkers and the influence of age.Molecular oncology · 2024Review
- Review
- Integrating On-Treatment Modified Glasgow Prognostic Score and Imaging to Predict Response and Outcomes in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.JAMA oncology · 2023Article
- Cancer cachexia: a nutritional or a systemic inflammatory syndrome?British journal of cancer · 2022Review
- C-reactive protein and white blood cell count are adverse prognostic markers for patients with advanced cancer on parenteral nutrition in a palliative care unit setting: A retrospective cohort study.Palliative medicine · 2022Article
- Elevated Levels of Soluble CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1, LAG-3 and TIM-3 and Systemic Inflammatory Stress as Potential Contributors to Immune Suppression and Generalized Tumorigenesis in a Cohort of South African Xeroderma Pigmentosum Patients.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Prognostic factors in patients with advanced cancer and COVID-19: a cohort from the Palliative Care Unit of the Brazilian National Cancer Institute.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
- Inflammation-induced cholestasis in cancer cachexia.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2021Article
- Association of Systemic Inflammation and Overall Survival in Elderly Patients with Cancer Cachexia - Results from a Multicenter Study.Journal of inflammation research · 2021Article
- Article
- Role of the Neutrophil in the Pathogenesis of Advanced Cancer and Impaired Responsiveness to Therapy.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Article
- Revisiting the clinical usefulness of C-reactive protein in the set of cancer cachexia.Porto biomedical journalReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAmongst patients with incurable cancer approaching death, cachexia is common and associated with adverse outcomes. The term cachexia lacks a universally accepted definition and there is no consensus regarding which variables are to be measured. Furthermore, an elevated C-reactive protein is a common clinical challenge in this patient group. This study aims to add to the ongoing discussion regarding the definition of cancer cachexia and to study the role of C-reactive protein and s-albumin in this context. MATERIAL AND
methodsA 1-year cohort, consisting of 155 cancer patients enrolled in a specialized palliative home care team in the city of Östersund, Sweden, that were deceased during the year of 2015 was studied. Laboratory measures were studied within 0-30 and 31-60 days prior to death. C-reactive protein >10 mg/L and coinciding s-albumin <30 g/L was referred to as "laboratory cachexia". Also, the number of days from the first found "laboratory cachexia" until death was noted.
resultsThe prevalence of "laboratory cachexia" was 85% 0-30 days prior to death compared to 66% 31-60 days prior to death (p<0.01). The majority of patients (75%) had an onset of "laboratory cachexia" within 0-120 days prior to death, with a median of 47 days. The median values for C-reactive protein and s-albumin within 0-30 days prior to death were 84mg/L and 23g/L respectively. DISCUSSION: Could markedly deranged values of C-reactive protein and s-albumin, such as found in this study, signal a relatively short remaining survival time in patients with incurable cancer and no clinical signs of ongoing infection? The role of "laboratory cachexia" in this context as well as the cut off values for the laboratory measures included may be further discussed.
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