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High pretreatment neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of poor survival prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Systematic review and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Yang Lin,
Huang Yu,
Zhou Lie,
Dai Yuhong,
Hu Guangyuan
Publication year - 2019
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.25583
Subject(s) - hazard ratio , medicine , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , oncology , neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio , confidence interval , head and neck cancer , meta analysis , proportional hazards model , lymphocyte , cancer , biomarker , gastroenterology , biology , biochemistry
Abstract Background The prognostic roles of neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been reported in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but their results remain controversial. Methods A total of 25 literatures with 28 cohorts involving 6847 HNSCC patients were included. The hazard ratio (HR) was pooled with 95% confidence interval (CI) using fixed‐effects or random‐effects models. Results High pretreatment NLR predicted poor overall survival (OS: HR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.39‐2.03; P < .001), disease‐free survival (DFS: HR = 1.76; 95% CI = 1.42‐2.17; P < .001), progression‐free survival (PFS: HR = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.09‐2.14; P = .014), and cancer‐specific survival (CSS: HR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.23‐1.71; P < .001) in HNSCC. However, the association between PLR and OS or DFS was not statistically significant. Conclusion The NLR can serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for patients with HNSCC.