title: Pretreatment neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio but not platelet/lymphocyte ratio has a prognostic impact in multiple myeloma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We evaluated the prognostic significance of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, we retrospectively analyzed 315 newly diagnosed MM patients and calculated NLR and PLR from the complete blood count of the untreated patients. We further assessed the role of pretreatment NLR and PLR on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple myeloma patients with high NLR (≥2) experienced shorter OS (P=.02) and PFS (P=.01) compared with patients with low NLR (<2). Furthermore, among the patients with conventional chemotherapy, elderly patients, or patients with advanced stages, high NLR (≥2) was found to have a negative prognostic impact on OS and PFS. In the multivariate Cox analysis, we confirmed that the NLR was an independent prognostic factor for both OS and PFS (P=.000). But the differences in OS or PFS by PLR were not found in MM patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that NLR not PLR can be acted as an independent prognostic factor for analyzing the clinical outcome of MM patients.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Center of Diagnostics, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hujun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lijin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhiling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Haematology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Haematology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ruosi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kailin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology*; D010976:Platelet Count; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: multiple myeloma; neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio; platelet/lymphocyte ratio; prognostic factor