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Neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio and overall survival in all sites of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Rachidi Saleh,
Wallace Kristin,
Wrangle John M.,
Day Terry A.,
Alberg Anthony J.,
Li Zihai
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.24159
Subject(s) - medicine , hazard ratio , oncology , neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio , confounding , head and neck cancer , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , lymphocyte , multivariate analysis , cancer , population , proportional hazards model , gastroenterology , pathology , confidence interval , environmental health
Background Current prognostic criteria are insufficient in predicting outcomes in head and neck cancer, necessitating new, readily available biomarkers. Methods Pretreatment neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and their ratio (NLR) were retrospectively investigated for correlation with overall survival while controlling for demographic and clinical confounders. Results Patients in the highest tertile of neutrophil counts and those in the lowest tertile of lymphocytes experienced shorter survival than the rest of the population. Patients in the highest tertile of the NLR were at a higher risk compared with those in the lowest tertile after multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.39; p = .0001). Additionally, NLR was lower in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)‐positive tumors compared to HPV‐negative tumors and predicted survival in both tumor types. Conclusion Neutrophil and lymphocyte counts are strong biomarkers with opposing prognostic significance and the NLR is a robust predictor of overall survival in oral, pharyngeal, and laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38 : E1068–E1074, 2016