Table 1 Demographic, tumour and treatment characteristics of 1435 women with breast cancer by quintiles of pre-treatment neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio

From: Utility of pre-treatment neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio and platelet–lymphocyte ratio as prognostic factors in breast cancer

 

Overall

Quintile 1

NLR ⩽1.39

n =226

Quintile 2

1.39⩽2.00

n =379

Quintile 3

2.00⩽2.58

n =305

Quintile 4

2.58⩽4.00

n =331

Quintile 5

NLR >4.00

n =194

P a

Multivariable odds ratio b (96% CI)

Age (years), median

52

56

53

50

49

50

<0.001c

1.00 (0.98–1.02)

Race, n (%)

      

0.011c

 

Chinese

830 (57.8)

115 (50.9)

216 (57.0)

176 (57.7)

204 (61.6)

119 (61.3)

 

1.00

Malay

363 (25.3)

54 (23.9)

89 (23.5)

82 (26.9)

86 (26.0)

52 (26.8)

 

0.81 (0.52–1.28)

Indian

222 (15.5)

55 (24.3)

68 (17.9)

42 (13.8)

36 (10.9)

21 (10.8)

 

1.00 (0.56–1.79)

Others

20 (1.4)

2 (0.9)

6 (1.6)

5 (1.6)

5 (1.5)

2 (1.054)

 

0.80 (0.17–3.84)

Tumour size (cm)d, median

3.5

3.0

3.0

3.5

4.0

5.0

<0.001c

1.06 (1.01–1.10)c

No. of positive axillary lymph nodes, n (%)

        

0

639 (51.7)

115 (54.0)

190 (55.1)

150 (55.1)

126 (45.8)

58 (44.6)

 

1.00

1–3

285 (23.1)

49 (23.0)

69 (20.0)

65 (23.9)

64 (23.3)

38 (29.2)

0.142

1.21 (0.74–1.96)

4–9

170 (13.8)

29 (13.6)

44 (12.8)

27 (9.9)

49 (17.8)

21 (16.2)

 

1.14 (0.62–2.09)

⩾10

141 (11.4)

20 (9.4)

42 (12.2)

30 (11.0)

36 (13.1)

13 (10.0)

 

0.47 (0.22–1.04)

Unknown

200

       

Distant metastasis, n (%)

      

<0.001c

 

None

1222 (86.1)

210 (93.3)

348 (92.1)

265 (87.7)

272 (83.4)

127 (67.6)

 

1.00

Present

197 (13.9)

15 (6.7)

30 (7.9)

37 (12.3)

54 (16.6)

61 (32.4)

 

1.28 (0.72–2.27)

Unknown

16

       

Grade, n (%)

      

0.019c

 

1

83 (7.7)

13 (7.3)

22 (7.5)

24 (10.1)

20 (8.2)

4 (3.3)

 

1.00

2

514 (48)

104 (58.4)

125 (42.7)

111 (46.8)

119 (49.0)

55 (45.8)

 

1.43 (0.44–4.69)

3

474 (44.3)

61 (34.3)

146 (49.8)

102 (43.0)

104 (42.8)

61 (50.8)

 

1.44 (0.45–4.63)

Unknown

364

       

Lymphovascular invasion, n (%)

      

0.279

 

None

552 (53.4)

96 (55.8)

167 (54.9)

125 (56.6)

111 (50.0)

53 (46.1)

 

1.00

Present

482 (46.6)

76 (44.2)

137 (45.1)

96 (43.4)

111 (50.0)

62 (53.9)

 

1.07 (0.65–1.77)

Unknown

401

       

Oestrogen receptor status, n (%)

        

Negative

612 (44.9)

105 (47.3)

156 (42.2)

122 (42.1)

137 (44.1)

92 (54.1)

0.075

1.00

Positive

751 (55.1)

117 (52.7)

214 (57.8)

168 (57.9)

174 (55.9)

78 (45.9)

 

0.83 (0.49–1.43)

Unknown

72

       

PR status, n (%)

      

0.026c

 

Negative

617 (51.2)

107 (53.8)

161 (47.6)

123 (47.1)

141 (52.2%)

85 (62.5%)

 

1.00

Positive

587 (48.8)

92 (46.2)

177 (52.4)

138 (52.9)

129 (47.8%)

51 (37.5%)

 

0.81 (0.44–1.47)

Unknown

231

       

HER2 status, n (%)

      

0.002c

 

Negative

699 (55.1)

122 (58.4)

204 (58.3)

171 (62.6)

137 (48.4)

65 (42.5)

 

1.00

Positive

456 (36.0)

71 (34.0)

119 (34.0)

80 (29.3)

116 (41.0)

70 (45.8)

 

1.52 (1.02–2.26)c

Equivocal

113 (8.9)

16 (7.7)

27 (7.7)

22 (8.1)

30 (10.6)

18 (11.8)

 

1.67 (0.85–3.27)

Unknown

167

       

PLR, median

144

96

119

147

185

263

0.000c

1.01 (1.01–1.02)c

Surgery, n (%)

      

0.000c

—

None

164 (11.4)

11 (4.9)

24 (6.3)

25 (8.2)

47 (14.2)

57 (29.4)

  

Mastectomy

989 (68.9)

163 (72.1)

272 (71.8)

209 (68.5)

228 (68.9)

117 (60.3)

  

BCS

282 (19.7)

52 (23.0)

83 (21.9)

71 (23.3)

56 (16.9)

20 (10.3)

  

Radiotherapy, n (%)

      

0.546

—

Yes

835 (62.3)

138 (64.8)

219 (60.8)

189 (63.9)

192 (63.4)

97 (57.4)

  

None

506 (37.7)

75 (35.2)

141 (39.2)

107 (36.1)

111 (36.6)

72 (42.6)

  

Unknown

94

       

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, n (%)

      

<0.001c

 

None

1216 (84.7)

209 (92.5)

335 (88.4)

259 (84.9)

272 (82.8)

139 (71.6)

  

Yes

219 (15.3)

17 (7.5)

44 (11.6)

46 (15.1)

57 (17.2)

55 (28.4)

  

Adjuvant chemotherapy, n (%)

      

0.879

—

None

442 (30.8)

75 (33.2)

114 (30.1)

89 (29.2)

102 (30.9)

62 (32)

  

Yes

992 (69.2)

151 (66.8)

265 (69.9)

216 (70.8)

228 (69.1)

132 (68.0)

  

Unknown

1

       

Hormonal therapy, n (%)

      

0.129

—

None

492 (38.1)

83 (39.9)

125 (35.8)

98 (34.9)

109 (38.1)

77 (46.4)

  

Yes

798 (61.9)

125 (60.1)

224 (64.2)

183 (65.1)

177 (61.9)

89 (53.6)

  

Unknown

145

       
  1. Abbreviations: BCS=breast-conserving surgery; CI=confidence interval; HER2=Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; NLR=neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio; PLR=platelet–lymphocyte ratio; PR=progesterone receptor.
  2. aDerived using the χ2-test for categorical variables, and Kruskal–Wallis test for continuous variables.
  3. bDerived using a multivariable logistic regression model on imputed data (using cutoff for NLR=4.00), showing pooled odds ratios adjusted for age, race, tumour size, lymph node involvement, distant metastasis, grade, lymphovascular invasion, oestrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, HER2 status, and NLR.
  4. cStatistically significant.
  5. dTumour size unknown in 86 patients.
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