A prognostic parameter in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: the ratio of hemoglobin-to-red cell distribution width

Background This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of the ratio of hemoglobin–RDW (HRR) at diagnosis, in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Patients with metastatic NCCLC who attended two separate medical oncology clinics between April 2013 and December 2017 were retrospectively screened. HRR was calculated as Hgb (g/dL) divided by the RDW (%). Patients were assigned to either the low HRR group or high HRR group. Results A total of 153 patients were included in the study. The cuff-value for HRR was taken as 0.88. Among the low and high HRR groups, Glasgow prognostic scores (GPS), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and weight loss were statistically significantly different ( p