Prognostic significance of neutrophil-to lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to lymphocyte ratio in older patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Aging is associated with a higher risk of cancer, >70% of cancer-related deaths occur in aged patients; however, this population is underrepresented in clinical trials, therefore, clinical information regarding this age group is rather limited. OBJECTIVES: Neutrophil-to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been described as biomarkers in cancer, thus, we have assessed their impact in an aged cohort of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: 110 patients with a mean age of 72.2 years at diagnosis were retrospectively reviewed; NLR and PLR were calculated and dichotomized using a cutoff point estimated by a ROC curve. Survival curves and Cox regression analysis were performed to assess the prognostic potential of ratios in terms of progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: High NLR was associated to worse outcome in terms of PFS (ten vs sixteen months; Log rank <0.001) (HR 2.00 95%CI 1. 29-3.11; p = .002) and OS (20 vs 26 months; Log rank 0.002) (HR 2.28 95%CI 1.40-3.71; p = .001). Similarly it occurs with high PLR and PFS (nine vs fifteen months; Log rank 0.04) (HR 1.55 95%CI 1.01-2.40; p = .04) and OS (nineteen vs 25 months; Log rank <0.001) (HR 2.35 95%CI 1.45-3.80; p < .001). CONCLUSION: This study confirms the role of NLR and PLR as accessible and noninvasive biomarkers that could be use as a routine tool in the clinical practice in geriatric patients with mCRC.