Background: The prognostic value of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) had been investigated in previous studies; however, the results remain inconsistent. This study was aimed to investigate the prognostic value of NLR in CRPC patients.
Materials and methods: Literature was identified from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane, which investigated the relationship between pretreatment NLR and prognosis in CRPC patients. HRs for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were extracted from eligible studies. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I ² value. The fixed-effects model was used if there was no evidence of heterogeneity; otherwise, the random-effects model was used. Publication bias was evaluated using Begg’s funnel plot test.
Results: A total of 5,705 patients from 16 studies were included in this analysis. The pooled results showed that an elevated NLR predict poor OS (pooled HR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.41–1.63, P <0.001) and PFS (pooled HR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.21–1.85, P <0.001) in patients with CRPC. Subgroup analysis revealed that an elevated NLR significantly predicted poor OS in Asian studies group (HR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.47–4.01, P =0.001). The elevated NLR also significantly predicted poor PFS in Asian studies group (HR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.30–3.06, P =0.002).
Conclusion: This study suggests that an elevated NLR predict poor prognosis in patients with CRPC.
Keywords: neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio, castration-resistant prostate cancer, prognosis, meta-analysis