Predictive value of inflammatory indices: a prospective study in critical oncological patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of inflammatory indices and survival in critical cancer patients. This is a prospective, observational cohort study in which patients were followed up for 28 days after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a reference hospital specialized in oncology. The neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) were calculated within 24 hours of admission to the ICU. Spearman’s correlation, Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and Cox regression were used to associate the selected variables with survival. One hundred patients were selected, 78% of whom had active cancer, and 27 of whom died. Patients with mGPS 1 and 2 had a lower probability of 28-day survival and were 4.1 times more likely to die than the patients with mGPS 0. mGPS is a better predictor of survival than NLR, PLR, and MLR in critically ill patients diagnosed with solid tumors. Further studies are needed to establish the precise cutoff point for mGPS in relation to mortality and to assess its applicability in clinical practice.