Preoperative albumin-to-fibrinogen ratio is a prognostic factor for patients with early non-small cell lung cancer

Background Previous studies have shown that albumin-to-fibrinogen ratio (AFR) is a novel prognostic biomarker in various diseases. In this study, we investigated the correlation between preoperative AFR and clinical outcomes in patients with early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A total of 212 stage I NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection were enrolled in this study. Risk factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated by univariate and multivariate Cox proportional regression analyses. The association between OS, RFS and AFR was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method using log-rank test. Results The AFR was significantly associated with tumor stage. Preoperative AFR was an effective predictor for OS in NSCLC patients with a cut-off value of 10.36 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.785 (P < 0.001). The univariate and multivariate Cox analyses indicated that AFR was an independent prognostic factor for both OS and RFS (P < 0.05). Kaplan–Meier analysis confirmed that patients with high AFR levels showed significantly higher RFS (P = 0.016) and OS (P = 0.041) than those with low AFR levels. Conclusions This study indicated that elevated preoperative AFR might be an independent prognostic factor for early NSCLC patients.