The clinical significance of preoperative serum triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein levels in lung squamous cell carcinoma

To evaluate the prognostic role of the preoperative plasma lipid profile, including triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) who underwent complete resection. Clinical data, including preoperative plasma profile levels, were retrospectively collected and reviewed in 300 patients with LUSC who underwent radical lung resection between 2016 and 2017. The overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards regression model. TG ≤ 1.35, HDL-C ≤ 1.17, and LDL-C ≤ 2.32 were deemed as independent preoperative risk factors for OS, and HDL-C ≤ 1.17 was an independent preoperative risk factor for DFS. In the multivariate analyses involving OS and DFS, a decreased HDL-C level was significantly associated with worse OS (HR, 0.546; 95% CI, 0.380–0.784, P = 0.001) and DFS (HR, 0.644; 95% CI, 0.422–0.981, P = 0.041). Additionally, an increased TG (HR, 0.546; 95% CI, 0.366–0.814, P = 0.003) or LDL-C (HR, 0.652; 95% CI, 0.456–0.933, P = 0.019) level was significantly associated with better OS. In patients with LUSC, decreased levels of HDL-C may predict worse outcomes for both DFS and OS, while increased TG or LDL-C levels may predict better OS.