Abstract
Systemic inflammation and poor nutritional status have a negative effect on the outcomes of cancer. Here, we analyzed the effects of the pretreatment inflammatory and nutritional status on clinical outcomes of locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. We retrospectively reviewed 89 patients with locally advanced NSCLC treated with chemoradiotherapy between July 2006 and June 2013. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was assessed as an inflammatory marker, and serum albumin, body mass index (BMI) and skeletal mass index were assessed as nutritional status markers. The relationships between these markers and overall survival (OS) were assessed. The median OS was 24.6 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 19.4-39.3 months]. During follow-up, 58 patients (65%) had disease recurrence and 52 patients (58%) died. In multivariate Cox hazard analysis, CRP levels and BMI approached but did not achieve a significant association with OS (P = 0.062 and 0.094, respectively). Recursive partitioning analysis identified three prognostic groups based on hazard similarity (CRP-BMI scores): 0 = CRP < 0.3 mg/dl, 1 = CRP ≥ 0.3 mg/dl and BMI ≥ 18.5 kg/m2, and 2 = CRP ≥ 0.3 mg/dl and BMI < 18.5 kg/m2. The CRP-BMI score was significantly associated with OS (P = 0.023). Patients with scores of 0, 1 and 2 had median OS of 39.3, 24.5 and 14.5 months, respectively, and the scores also predicted the probability of receiving salvage treatment after recurrence. The CRP-BMI score is thus a simple and useful prognostic marker of clinical outcome for patients with locally advanced NSCLC treated with chemoradiotherapy.