Comparative Evaluation of Common Comorbidity Scores and Freiburger Comorbidity Index as Prognostic Variables in a Real Life Multiple Myeloma Population

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a disease of the geriatric population with a median age at diagnosis of 69 years but most clinicians consider performance status and comorbidities rather than chronological age in determining prognosis and treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess whether and which comorbidity indices predict survival in a real life population of MM. We calculated Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), age combined Charlson index (CCI-age), Hematopoietic cell transplantation-specific comorbidity index (HCT-SCI) and Freiburger comorbidity index (FCI) retrospectively for 66 MM patients and compared their impact on treatment responses and overall survival (OS). Treatment response was significantly worse in groups with high CCI, CCI-age, HCT-SCI scales (p < 0.05), but FCI’s effect on treatment response was not significant. However, while no significant relationship was determined between other comorbidity indices with OS, it was related only with FCI–CI (p = 0.006). FCI, developed in this patient group, was the only prognostic index with a significant effect on OS in the evaluation of comorbidities in MM patients with different scores, but its relationship to treatment responses was not significant contrary to other indices. While this small patient group gave us hope regarding the use of FCI in practice, multi-center studies are still required.