Affiliation:
1. Department of Emergency Medicine Hainan Hospital of PLA General Hospital Sanya People's Republic of China
2. Department of Clinical Laboratory Hainan Hospital of PLA General Hospital Sanya People's Republic of China
3. Department of Oncology Hainan Hospital of PLA General Hospital Sanya People's Republic of China
4. Department of Nursing Hainan Hospital of PLA General Hospital Sanya People's Republic of China
5. Department of Oncology Huzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Huzhou People's Republic of China
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundNutritional risk index (NRI) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are useful prognostic markers in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the prognostic value of a combination of the NRI and CEA, namely, the NRI and CEA score (NCS), needs further investigation.MethodsStage I‐III CRC patients were collected and then divided into three subgroups by counting the NCS: NCS 1: high NRI with normal CEA; NCS 2: high NRI with elevated CEA or low NRI with normal CEA; and NCS 3: low NRI with elevated CEA. The differences in outcome, counted as disease‐free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), were tested among the subgroups.ResultsA total of 285 patients were enrolled, with 108 in NCS 1, 118 in NCS 2 and 59 in NCS 3. Patient features, including age, tumour deposit, T stage, N stage and TNM stage, were significantly different in the NCS subgroups. Both the DFS (log‐rank = 26.06, P<0.001) and OS (log‐rank = 39.10, P<0.001) were significant in different NCS subgroups, even in maximum tumour diameter ≤4 cm cases (DFS: log‐rank = 21.42, P<0.001; OS: log‐rank = 30.95, P<0.001), and NCS 1 patients displayed the best outcome compared with the rest of the subgroups. NCS was also found to be an independent risk factor for both DFS and OS.ConclusionsNCS was a useful prognostic indicator in stages I–III CRC patients.