Improving on-treatment risk stratification of cancer patients with refined response classification and integration of circulating tumor DNA kinetics

Table 4 Inverse probability weighting-adjusted Cox regression between cBR+PR and non-cBR+PR subgroups in locally advanced nasopharynx of head and neck cancer

Covariates	Subgroup	DFS			OS			DMFS			LRFS
Covariates	Subgroup	HR	95%CI	P	HR	95%CI	P	HR	95%CI	P	HR	95%CI	P
Response Phenotypes^a	G3: cBR+PR (References)	1.00	–	–	1.00	–	–	1.00	–	–	1.00	–	–
Response Phenotypes^a	G4: non-cBR+PR	2.95	2.18–4.00	<0.01	2.43	1.65–3.58	<0.01	3.86	2.62–5.68	<0.01	1.98	1.25–3.14	<0.01

Abbreviations: cBR Complete biological response, cfEBV DNA Cell-free Epstein-Barr virus DNA, CI Confidence interval, DFS Disease-free survival, DMFS Distant metastasis-free survival, HR Hazard ratio, LRFS Locoregional relapse-free survival, MRI Magnetic resonance imaging, NAC Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, non-cBR Non-complete biological response, OS Overall survival, PD Progression disease, PR Partial responses
^aThe following variables were adjusted via IPW algorithm: age (<45 vs. ≥45 years), sex (male vs. female), smoking (No vs. Yes), alcohol (No vs. Yes), pretreatment EBV DNA (<2 vs. ≥2 × 10³ copies/mL), T stage (T1-2 vs. T3-4), N stage (N0-1 vs. N2-3), IC regimens (TPF vs. GP vs. TP vs. PF vs. others), IC cycles (2 cycles vs. 3 cycles vs. 4 cycles), CCD (<160 vs. ≥160 mg/m²). Two-sided P-values were calculated using the chi-square test

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