title: Prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Recently, a series of studies explored the correlation between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and the prognosis of lung cancer. However, the current opinion regarding the prognostic role of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer is inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis of published articles to investigate the prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer. The hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. An elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio predicted worse overall survival, with a pooled HR of 1.243 (95%CI: 1.106-1.397; P(heterogeneity)=0.001) from multivariate studies and 1.867 (95%CI: 1.487-2.344; P(heterogeneity)=0.047) from univariate studies. Subgroup analysis showed that a high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio yielded worse overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (HR=1.192, 95%CI: 1.061-1.399; P(heterogeneity)=0.003) as well as small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (HR=1.550, 95% CI: 1.156-2.077; P(heterogeneity)=0.625) in multivariate studies. The synthesized evidence from this meta-analysis of published articles demonstrated that an elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio was a predictor of poor overall survival in patients with lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Yongmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Center of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xuedong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Center of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: Center of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Shougang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuai
authors.affiliation: Center of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Zhongbo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shang
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*