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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
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.