Table 2.
Differences in clinical characteristics for high and low NLR groups
| Characteristic | All patients (N = 145)a | Oropharyngeal (n = 76)a | Non-oropharyngeal (n = 69)a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLR ≤ 5 (n = 116) | NLR > 5 (n = 29) | p value* | NLR ≤ 5 (n = 60) | NLR > 5 (n =16) | p value* | NLR ≤ 5 (n = 56) | NLR > 5 (n = 13) | p value* | |
| Age, median years (range) | 61 (32–86) | 67 (28–86) | 0.2 | 57.5 (32–83) | 64 (47–81) | 0.07 | 65 (38–86) | 70 (28–86) | 0.8 |
| Sex, n (%) | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Male | 92 (79) | 23 (79) | 49 (82) | 13 (81) | 43 (77) | 10 (77) | |||
| Female | 24 (21) | 6 (21) | 11 (18) | 3 (19) | 13 (23) | 3 (23) | |||
| ECOG PS, n (%) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | ||||||
| 0 | 84 (73) | 18 (62) | 51 (85) | 13 (81) | 33 (60) | 5 (38) | |||
| 1 | 24 (21) | 8 (28) | 8 (13) | 2 (13) | 16 (29) | 6 (46) | |||
| 2 | 7 (6) | 3 (10) | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | 6 (11) | 2 (15) | |||
| Smoking status, n (%) | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | ||||||
| Non-smoker | 35 (31) | 9 (32) | 19 (32) | 5 (31) | 16 (29) | 4 (33) | |||
| Ex-smoker | 48 (42) | 13 (46) | 29 (49) | 7 (44) | 19 (35) | 6 (50) | |||
| Current smoker | 31 (27) | 6 (21) | 11 (19) | 4 (25) | 20 (36) | 2 (17) | |||
| Tumour site, n (%) | 0.7 | - | 0.6 | ||||||
| Lip and oral cavity | 20 (17) | 5 (17) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 20 (36) | 5 (38) | |||
| Nasopharynx | 8 (7) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 8 (14) | 0 (0) | |||
| Oropharynx | 60 (52) | 16 (55) | 60 (100) | 16 (100) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |||
| Hypopharynx | 9 (8) | 3 (10) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 9 (16) | 3 (23) | |||
| Larynx | 19 (16) | 5 (17) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 19 (34) | 5 (38) | |||
| Tumour stage, n (%) | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.8 | ||||||
| T1 | 31 (27) | 4 (14) | 22 (37) | 2 (13) | 9 (16) | 2 (15) | |||
| T2 | 38 (33) | 14 (48) | 21 (35) | 8 (50) | 17 (30) | 6 (46) | |||
| T3 | 29 (25) | 7 (24) | 11 (18) | 4 (25) | 18 (32) | 3 (23) | |||
| T4 | 18 (16) | 4 (14) | 6 (10) | 2 (13) | 12 (21) | 2 (15) | |||
| Nodal stage, n (%) | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | ||||||
| N0 | 37 (32) | 7 (24) | 10 (17) | 1 (6) | 27 (48) | 6 (46) | |||
| N1 | 26 (22) | 10 (35) | 17 (28) | 5 (31) | 9 (16) | 5 (38) | |||
| N2 | 48 (41) | 12 (41) | 31 (52) | 10 (63) | 17 (30) | 2 (15) | |||
| N3 | 5 (4) | 0 (0) | 2 (3) | 0 (0) | 3 (5) | 0 (0) | |||
| AJCC stage, n (%) | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | ||||||
| I | 7 (6) | 2 (7) | 4 (7) | 0 (0) | 3 (5) | 2 (15) | |||
| II | 27 (23) | 8 (28) | 14 (23) | 4 (25) | 13 (23) | 4 (31) | |||
| III | 59 (51) | 15 (52) | 34 (57) | 10 (63) | 25 (45) | 5 (38) | |||
| IV | 23 (20) | 4 (14) | 8 (13) | 2 (13) | 15 (27) | 2 (15) | |||
| p16 tumour status, n (%) | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Negative | 39 (51) | 9 (47) | 5 (14) | 2 (25) | 34 (85) | 7 (64) | |||
| Positive | 37 (49) | 10 (53) | 31 (86) | 6 (75) | 6 (15) | 4 (36) | |||
| Treatment, n (%) | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | ||||||
| Radiotherapy | 14 (12) | 3 (10) | 9 (15) | 1 (6) | 5 (9) | 2 (15) | |||
| Postoperative radiotherapy | 24 (21) | 5 (17) | 3 (5) | 0 (0) | 21 (38) | 5 (38) | |||
| Chemoradiotherapy | 68 (59) | 20 (69) | 46 (77) | 15 (94) | 22 (39) | 5 (38) | |||
| Postoperative chemoradiotherapy | 10 (9) | 1 (3) | 2 (3) | 0 (0) | 8 (14) | 1 (8) | |||
| Neutrophils, median counts (range) | 4.55 (1.10-11.80) | 6.80 (3.2-11.90) | <0.001 | 4.40 (1.10-9.30) | 7.85 (3.90-11.90) | <0.001 | 5.15 (2.10-2.80) | 6.50 (3.20-11.80) | <0.01 |
| Lymphocytes, median counts (range) | 1.75 (0.50-10.70) | 1.10 (0.20-1.70) | <0.001 | 1.65 (0.50-3.40) | 1.10 (0.40-1.70) | <0.001 | 1.90 (0.60-10.70) | 1.00 (0.20-1.50) | <0.001 |
| NLR, median counts (range) | 2.69 (0.41-5.00) | 6.71 (5.09-29.75) | <0.001 | 2.71 (1.30-4.78) | 6.41 (5.09-29.75) | <0.001 | 2.64 (0.41-5.00) | 7.00 (5.55-16.00) | <0.001 |
Abbreviations: NLR neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, ECOG PS Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status and AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer
*, appropriate statistical test (Students t-test, Mann Whitney-U, χ2 test or Fishers exact test) conducted between high and low NLR patients and a, missing values excluded from table and statistical analysis