Is C-Reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio of Advanced-Stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Able to Predict Mortality in the Admission for Palliative Care?

CONTEXT: Lung cancer is frequent and mortal cancer. The predicting mortality may be helpful for cancer management. AIM: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of baseline C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio (CAR) in relation to hospital mortality, the setting of advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is a retrospective analysis and included 77 adult patients with Stage IV NSCLC who were hospitalized for supportive care. All patients are divided into two groups as survivors and nonsurvivors. CAR on the admission was compared between groups. The correlation between CAR and the death time was investigated. The cutoff level of CAR was calculated, and patients with a high level were described in two groups. RESULTS: For all participants, the mean age was 63.0 ± 9.9 years, and the median values of CRP and albumin levels were 15.3 mg/dl (1–51.5) and 5.7 g/dl (0.02–22.7), respectively. CAR was significantly lower in the survivor group. By receiver operation curve analysis, the cutoff levels of CRP and CAR were determined as 10.8 and 3.5, respectively. The odds ratio of mortality was 3.85 (1.49–9.94 95% confidence interval [CI], P = 0.006) for higher than cutoff levels of CAR. The odds ratio was 3.38 (1.32–8.65 95% CI, P = 0.01) for higher CRP levels. There was a significant but weak negative correlation between the time of death and both CRP and CAR in the nonsurvivor group (r = −0.46, P = 0.002; r = −0.48, P = 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that CAR was significantly increased in nonsurvivors. CAR may be a cheap, easy, and effective tool for predicting the death and its time of hospitalized NSCLC patients.