Current CGVHD prognostic and staging systems are still undergoing development and have identified plt count; CGVHD types progressive(P), quiescent(Q), de novo(DN); KPS, and GI involvement as significant risk factors affecting outcome. A simple reproducible staging system such as used for AGVHD to apply in clinical trials is still lacking. We evaluated whether the PSE dose required to control CGVHD at 3 months from diagnosis would have a prognostic effect on survival and in and of itself serve as a criteria for secondary intervention or investigational therapy. We hypothesized that by 3 months from start of treatment patients would be on the lowest dose dictated by medical necessity rather than by physician driven dose preference. A retrospective analysis of charts from 109 patients diagnosed with CGVHD between 6/2000 and 6/2003 was done. Data collected included age, donor type(mud/sib), plt count, CGVHD type(P/Q/DN), KPS, GI involvement. Outcome analysis included survival and cause of death. PSE dose was calculated in mg/kg at 3 months from first diagnosis of CGVHD. With a median follow up of 47.2 months(range 6.6–67.2) relapse censored survival of patients on a 3 month PSE dose of more than .3 mg/kg was 53% compared to all lower doses 86%(P.03). In a univariate analysis only PSE dose (P .05) and KPS (P <.01) were significant with plt count approaching significance (P .11). In a multivariate analysis again only PSE dose and KPS were significant (Table 1).

Table

.	.	.	.	Univariate .	.	Multivariate .	.
Variable .	Value .	N .	# of deaths .	Hazard Rate Ratio (95% CI) .	p value .	Hazard Rate Ratio (95% CI) .	p value .
Prednisone at 3 month	0	20	1	Baseline	0.05	Baseline
	0.1–0.14	18	2	3.0 (0.3–32.7)		3.7 (0.3–43.4)	0.33
	0.15–0.29	22	3	2.9 (0.3–28.2)		3.4 (0.3–34.5)	0.32
	0.3–0.59	16	7	9.8 (1.2–79.4)		9.3 (1.1–76.0)	0.04
	0.6–0.99	0	0	n/a		n/a	n/a
	≥1.0	0	0	n/a		n/a	n/a
cGVHD class	Denovo	29	5	Baseline	0.54
	Progressive	23	7	1.9 (0.6–6.0)
	Quiescent	57	13	1.3 (0.5–3.8)
Donor type	Sibling	48	9	Baseline	0.40
	Unrelated	61	16	1.4 (0.6–3.2)
Platelet count at 3 month	<100	28	9	Baseline	0.11	Baseline
	≥100	81	16	0.5 (0.2–1.1)		0.7 (0.2–2.3)	0.59
KPS at 3 month	<80	14	7	Baseline	<0.01	Baseline
	≥80	95	18	0.2 (0.1–0.5)		0.3 (0.0–1.3)	0.03
Lower GI at 3 month	No	98	22	Baseline	0.78
	Yes	9	2	1.2 (0.3–5.2)

.	.	.	.	Univariate .	.	Multivariate .	.
Variable .	Value .	N .	# of deaths .	Hazard Rate Ratio (95% CI) .	p value .	Hazard Rate Ratio (95% CI) .	p value .
Prednisone at 3 month	0	20	1	Baseline	0.05	Baseline
	0.1–0.14	18	2	3.0 (0.3–32.7)		3.7 (0.3–43.4)	0.33
	0.15–0.29	22	3	2.9 (0.3–28.2)		3.4 (0.3–34.5)	0.32
	0.3–0.59	16	7	9.8 (1.2–79.4)		9.3 (1.1–76.0)	0.04
	0.6–0.99	0	0	n/a		n/a	n/a
	≥1.0	0	0	n/a		n/a	n/a
cGVHD class	Denovo	29	5	Baseline	0.54
	Progressive	23	7	1.9 (0.6–6.0)
	Quiescent	57	13	1.3 (0.5–3.8)
Donor type	Sibling	48	9	Baseline	0.40
	Unrelated	61	16	1.4 (0.6–3.2)
Platelet count at 3 month	<100	28	9	Baseline	0.11	Baseline
	≥100	81	16	0.5 (0.2–1.1)		0.7 (0.2–2.3)	0.59
KPS at 3 month	<80	14	7	Baseline	<0.01	Baseline
	≥80	95	18	0.2 (0.1–0.5)		0.3 (0.0–1.3)	0.03
Lower GI at 3 month	No	98	22	Baseline	0.78
	Yes	9	2	1.2 (0.3–5.2)

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Overall survival by Prednisone dose

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Overall survival by Prednisone dose

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The analysis of this data to date suggests the PSE dose at 3 months may be an important independent clinical marker for subsequent CGVHD prognosis which could be used to decide which patients to include in 2^nd line and experimental therapy trials.