The prognostic value of red cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in radiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer

Abstract

Background

Red cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are known inflammatory indices. Elevated values are found in many cancers and may be associated with a poor prognosis. The article aimed to assess the impact of RDW, NLR, and PLR on overall survival (OS) of patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with radiotherapy (RT).

Materials and methods

This retrospective study includes 208 patients treated for oropharyngeal cancer with definitive RT or RT combined with neoadjuvant or concurrent systemic therapy, at one institution between 2004 and 2014. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method, log-rank testing, and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used for the analysis.

Results

The OS was significantly higher in RDW ≤ 13.8% (p = 0.001) and NLR ≤ 2.099 (p = 0.016) groups. The RDW index was characterized by the highest discriminatory ability [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51–0.67], closely followed by NLR (AUC = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.50–0.65). In the univariate Cox regression analysis, RDW [hazard ratio (HR): 1.28, 95% CI: 1.12–1.47, p < 0.001] and NLR (HR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.06–1.18, p < 0.001) were associated with an increased risk of death. In the multivariate analysis, among the analyzed indices, only NLR was significantly associated with survival (HR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.03–1.29, p = 0.012).

Conclusions

In the study, only NLR proved to be an independent predictor of OS. However, its clinical value is limited due to the relatively low sensitivity and specificity.