Table 4 Cox proportional hazards regression analyses for progression free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) as a function of continuous and categorical (<5 CTCs vs. ≥5 CTCs) CTC-counts

Continuous CTC-values

q0

33

1.01

0.99-1.02

0.4

1.01

0.999-1.01

0.07

q1

33

1.02

1.0-1.05

0.04

1.02

1.01-1.04

0.01

q4

33

1.01

1.0-1.02

0.004

1.02

1.01-1.03

0.001

q10

23

1.02

0.99-1.04

0.3

1.03

1.01-1.05

0.004

Categorical CTC-counts

q0

33

2.4

0.9-6.8

0.1

3.8

1.4-10.3

0.009

q1

33

4.3

1.6-11.8

0.005

4.5

1.9-10.8

0.001

q4

33

3.2

1.2-8.6

0.02

5.8

2.2-15.1

<0.001

q10

23

6.7

1.3-33.7

0.02

5.6

1.7-18.4

0.004