Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Ferritin as Measurable Tools for
Disease Burden and B Symptoms in Pediatric Patients with Hodgkin
Lymphoma
Abstract
Background Pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) has been treated successfully
with risk- and response-adapted therapy. While all these risk factors
are measured objectively, B symptoms are subjective tools. We evaluated
whether the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and inflammatory marker
levels correlated with B symptoms and disease burden. Methods The
medical charts of all children ≤14 years old with HL were
retrospectively reviewed. Data included, clinical and pathological
features, pretreatment ESR, ferritin levels; monocyte, neutrophil, and
lymphocyte counts; and NLR. Optimum cutoffs of variables significantly
associated with B symptoms were determined based on receiver operating
characteristic curves. Results Sixty-four patients were included in the
analysis. Sixteen patients (25%) had B symptoms. Patients with B
symptoms had higher ferritin levels (p<0.0001), monocyte
counts (p=0.0060), neutrophil counts (p=0.0003) and NLR (p
<0.0001) and lower lymphocyte counts (p=0.0017). Multiple ROC
curves were generated to identify the optimum cut-off. The sensitivities
and specificities of NLR (cut-off, 3.5) and ferritin (cut-off, 173
ng/ml) were highest [81.25% and 81.25% (p<0.0001) and
89.36% and 75% (p<0.0001), respectively]. Patients with
NLR >3.5 and ferritin>173 (ng/ml) had
significantly higher stage, bulky disease, and B symptoms. There was no
association between NLR and ferritin with disease outcome. Conclusions
NLR and ferritin levels were associated with high disease burden and B
symptoms. Therefore, these variables can be used as measurable tools for
B symptoms that can help stratify patients with HL. Larger and
prospective studies are needed to validate these findings.