TY - JOUR
AU - Jäger, Ulrich
AB - BACKGROUNDCancer is one of the leading causes of death. Cancer incidence is rising worldwide, due in part to the growing and ageing global population. Statistically, overall survival (OS) of cancer patients is constantly improving.1 On an individual level, however, survival varies tremendously. There is solid evidence regarding the impact of biological factors on OS in cancer patients. These classical factors include tumour biology, microenvironment and host‐related (clinical) factors. In addition to established tumour site‐specific scores or the TNM (tumour‐node‐metastasis) staging system, factors impacting OS of cancer patients include sex, age, cancer site or anaemia.2–5Indicators of socioeconomic status, including household income, education level, and social support,6–13 as well as psychological factors, such as general psychological distress, anxiety, and depression,14–22 have been recognised as important to OS in cancer patients, but are usually not considered in risk assessment, clinical trial design and patient management. Existing prognostic scores for cancer survival mostly focus on biological aspects, but do not include psychosocial or socioeconomic factors.23,24 However, we believe that there is a medical need to do so:Not considering psychosocial variables in study design can bias the results of clinical trials. If groups differ in important psychosocial indicators, the apparent association between the respective 
TI - The cancer survival index—A prognostic score integrating psychosocial and biological factors in patients diagnosed with cancer or haematologic malignancies
JF - Cancer Medicine
DO - 10.1002/cam4.4697
DA - 2022-09-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/wiley/the-cancer-survival-index-a-prognostic-score-integrating-psychosocial-fg8tQ2RLoM
SP - 3387
EP - 3396
VL - 11
IS - 18
DP - DeepDyve
ER -