Usefulness of the Glasgow prognostic score for predicting survival in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Few studies have investigated whether the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS), an inflammation based prognostic score, is useful for postoperative prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and methods: Two hundred and eighty nine consecutive patients of resected NSCLC with a follow-up period more than 5 years were enrolled. GPS was calculated on the basis of admission data as follows: patients with elevated C-reactive protein level (1.0 mg/dL) and hypoalbuminemia (3.5 g/dL) were assigned to GPS 2. Patients with one or no abnormal value were assigned to GPS 1 or GPS 0. Results: Study patients were allocated as follows: 244 (84.44 %) to GPS 0, 28 (9.69 %) to GPS 1, and 16 (5.54 %) to GPS 2. The prognosis of the patients with GPS 2 was significantly poorer. Multivariate logistic analysis identified age, gender, pT status, pN status, serum CEA level and GPS were found to be independent prognostic variables. Conclusions: Preoperative GPS, especially GPS 2, may be useful for postoperative prognosis of patients with NSCLC.