Zhang B, Du W, Gan K, et al. - Among retrospectively enrolled young (≤ 40 years old) patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), researchers assessed the link between pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognosis. Matching of each young patient with an old (≥ 60 years old) oral SCC patient was done. Overall there were 103 young patients included, and they had a significantly lower NLR value vs the old group. The estimated 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rate was 93% in the young patients with an NLR ≤ 2.56, while it was was 76% in the young patients with an NLR > 2.56. NLR was confirmed as an independent prognostic factor for DSS in a further Cox model analysis. Compared with old oral SCC patients, young patients experienced a better prognosis. There was a significant link between NLR and DSS in young patients.