The lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio as a prognostic indicator in head and neck cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the relationship between the pre-treatment lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and prognosis in HNC.

Methods

PubMed (via the Web), Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library were searched. A systematic review and meta-analysis was done to generate the pooled hazard ratios (HR) for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).

Results

Our analysis included the results of 4260 patients in seven cohorts. The pooled data demonstrated that an elevated LMR was associated with significantly improved OS (HR 0.5; 95% CI 0.44–0.57), and DFS (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.62–0.80). Of note, there was no detectable heterogeneity in either OS (I² = 0%) or DFS (I² = 0%).

Conclusions

An elevated LMR may be an indicator of favorable prognosis in HNC. However, our results should be interpreted with some degree of caution due to the retrospective nature of cohort studies. Further research with high-quality prospective studies is needed to confirm the effect of LMR in HNC prognosis.

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