The risk of infections in hematologic patients treated with rituximab is not influenced by cumulative rituximab dosage - a single center experience

Table 4 Statistical influential variables

Variable	P-value (infections vs. No infection)	Odds ratio (95%CI)
Gender	0,43	0,76 (0.39-1.49)
Age (≤60,<60 years)	0,69	1.15 (0.57-2.35)
Stage	0,076	n.a
Number of prior therapies	0,015*	n.a.
Number of doses of Rituximab	0,35	n.a.
Chemotherapy in addition to Rituximab	0,006*	n.a.
Asplenia	0,45	0.56 (0.12-2.58)
Active malignancy at start of therapy ^§	0,007*	6.75 (1.4-32.5)*
Active malignancy at end of therapy	0,02*	3.06 (1.14-8.17)*
Application of G-CSF	0,013*^#	2.38 (1.19-4.76)
Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis	0,0001*^#	5.64 (2.51-12.64)
HIB/pneumococci vaccination	0,09	0.18 (0.02-1.66)
Substitution of immunoglobulins	0,45	0.56 (0.12-2.58)
Neutropenia	0,0001*	4.86 (2.37-9.99)*
Lymphopenia	0,045*	6.96 (0.79-61.26)*
Leukopenia	0,0001*	4.51 (2.09-9.74)*
Relevant comorbidities	0,63	1.16 (0.54-2.49)

*statistically significant in univariate analysis.
n.a.: not applicable.
^§ as patients with maintenance therapy and nonmalignant disorders had been treated with Rituximab not all patients had active malignancy at start of therapy.
^#Paradoxically, patients with infectious complications had significantly more often been treated with G-CSF and received Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis, probably as these antiinfective measures had been administered to patients receiving more intensive chemotherapeutic regimens (such as GMALL, or R-CHOEP).

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