Dexamethasone Coanalgesic Administration in Steroid Naïve and Steroid Non-Naïve Patients for the Prevention of Pain Flares after Palliative Radiotherapy for Bone Metastases

Table 1

Participant demographic, clinical, and treatment data (mean ± SD, unless otherwise specified).

	Steroid naïve (n = 14)	Steroid non-naïve (n = 15)
Age (years)	61, 29 ± 14, 63	57, 67 ± 9, 00	0.315
Gender (male/female)	5/9	7/8	0.550
ECOG (0-1/2-3)	5/9	6/9	0.827
ASA (1/2/3/4)	0/0/8/6	0/0/9/6	0.876
Primary cancer site (breast/prostate/lung/other)	9/0/3/2	3/1/4/7	0.059
Index site of radiated bone lesion(s) (cervico-thoracic/lumbo-sacral/other)	7/4/3	3/8/4	0.234
Radiation dose fractionations (8 Gy/1 fr./20 Gy/5 fr.)	2/12	2/13	1.000
Index pain analgesia (nonopioid analgesia/opioid analgesia)	7/7	8/7	1.000
Oral morphine equivalent (OME) (mg/day)	40, 71 ± 67, 17	92, 13 ± 109, 45	0.176
WHO-analgesic ladder (nonopioids/weak opioids/strong opioids)	9/1/4	6/3/6	0.401
Analgesic quantification algorithm [11] (none/weak/strong ≤75 mg/day/strong >75–150 mg/day/strong >150–300 mg/day)	9/1/4/0/0	6/3/3/2/1	0.361
Received bisphosphonates (yes/no)	4/10	2/13	0.390