Colinet defined comorbidities code N[N]

Guide for use:

Record each comorbid condition, as defined by the Colinet criteria, present in the patient at the time of diagnosis for lung cancer.

The criteria were developed specifically for non-small cell lung cancer where comorbidities may be an important variable in treatment decisions and prognosis, however, record each comorbid condition for all lung cancers.

Colinet criteria for comorbidities

CODE 1 Cardiovascular

Defined as the presence of one or more of the following:

• congestive heart failure,
• ischaemic cardiopathy with/without myocardial infarction,
• severe valvular cardiopathy,
• arrhythmia requiring chronic treatment,
• history of cerebrovascular disease,
• hypertension, and/or
• peripheral vascular disease

CODE 2 Respiratory

Defined as the presence of one or more of the following:

• history of tuberculosis,
• history of pleural effusion or pneumonia,
• asthma,
• pulmonary embolism,
• chronic pulmonary insufficiency (as defined by a chronic hypoxemia less than 60 mmHg, and/or
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) inducing a FEV1 less than 1.5l)

CODE 3 Neoplastic

Defined as a previous personal history of cancer excluding basal cell carcinoma of the skin and in situ carcinoma of the cervix.

CODE 4 Renal insufficiency

Defined as a creatinine clearance lower than 60 ml/min­.

CODE 5 Diabetes mellitus

Defined as diabetes treated with either oral hypoglycaemics or insulin.

CODE 6 Alcoholism

Defined as a daily consumption of:

• more than 80g of alcohol (8 standard drinks) for men
• more than 40g of alcohol (4 standard drinks) for women

CODE 7 Tobacco consumption

Defined as a lifelong consumption of an equivalent of at least 100 cigarettes.

Comments:

The Colinet system provides criteria to define comorbidities and a scoring system whereby each comorbidity is weighted and assigned a score, then scores are added to provide the Simplified Comorbidity Score (SCS). For instance, Colinet et al. 2005 found that an SCS greater than 9 was found to be an independent prognostic factor of poor outcome in NSCLC (non-small-cell lung cancer).