Saito H, et al. - A retrospective investigation was performed on the relationship between the C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio and prognosis in gastric cancer patients. Findings revealed the possible utility of the combination of CRP/Alb ratio and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting prognosis in gastric cancer patients.

Methods

• Researchers in this retrospective investigation included 453 patients with a histopathological diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent curative surgery.

Results

• Between CRP/Alb ratio and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), researchers identified a statistically significant weak correlation (r = 0.19; P < 0.0001).
• Statistically significant correlations were revealed between high CRP/Alb ratio and age (P=0.0004), tumor size (P=0.02), depth of invasion (P=0.012), and lymph node metastasis (P=0.022).
• A significant correlation of a high NLR was observed with age (P=0.0027), tumor size (P=0.0006), depth of invasion (P<0.0001), lymphatic involvement (P=0.0031), venous involvement (P=0.0022), and stage of disease (P=0.0024).
• Based on results by receiver operating characteristic analysis, they divided the patients as follows: CRP/Alb ratio ≥ 0.0232 (CAR^High), CRP/Alb ratio < 0.0232 (CAR^Low), NLR ≥ 2.43 (NLR^High), and NLR < 2.43 (NLR^Low).
• In this study, 5-year survival rates of patients with both CAR^High and NLR^High, either CAR^High or NLR^High, and both CAR^Low and NLR^Low were 59.6, 75.8, and 87.5%, respectively, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.0001).
• The combination of CRP/Alb ratio and NLR was identified as an independent prognostic indicator in multivariate analysis.