Clinical significance of neutrophil and albumin pretreatments in nasopharyngeal carcinoma prognosis

Objective: To investigate the association of pretherapeutic neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, and serum albumin levels with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) prognosis in 401 patients. Methods: This study involved 401 NPC patients recently diagnosed and admitted in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China. Laboratory variables, such as immunology-related parameters and albumin level prior to treatment, were analyzed. The overall survival and disease-free survival rates were determined using the Kaplan-Meier method and were then compared using the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model to identify prognostic factors. Results: Patients with neutrophil counts >5.20×10/L (n=172) had significantly lower overall survival and disease-free survival rates compared with those with neutrophil counts≤5.20×10/L (n=229) (P=0.014, P=0.009). In the 401 NPC cases, patients with high albumin levels (>43.00 g/L; n=253) had significantly higher overall survival (P=0.000) and disease-free survival (P=0.006) rates compared with those with low albumin levels (≤43.00 g/L; n=148). Multivariate analysis showed that the neutrophil level is an independent risk factor for disease-free survival, whereas the albumin level is a strong independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Conclusion: The pretherapeutic neutrophil and albumin levels are independent prognostic factors for survival in NPC patients.