Background: Abnormal changes in body composition and systemic inflammation response have been associated with poor survival of cancer patients. Our study was to explore the prognostic value of the association between body composition indicators and systemic inflammation markers among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) who underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of LACC patients treated between 2016 and 2019. Subcutaneous, visceral and intra-muscular adipose index (SAI, VAI and IMAI) and skeletal muscle index (SMI) were derived from computed tomography (CT). Kaplan-Meier analysis and Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were used to evaluate the survival. A nomogram was constructed to assess the prognostic value.
Results: The study included 196 patients treated with CCRT. According to multivariable Cox analyses, IIIC1r (P = 0.045), high systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) (P = 0.004), sarcopenia (P = 0.008), high SAI (P = 0.016) and high VAI (P = 0.001) were significantly risk factors for overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with low lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and sarcopenia had longer OS than those with high LMR and sarcopenia (P = 0.023). The high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in non-sarcopenic patients showed better survival (P = 0.022). Low VAI (P = 0.019) or low IMAI (P = 0.019) combined with low SII had a favorable OS. Low LMR combined with low SAI was associated with longer OS (P = 0.022). The calibration plots of nomogram predicting the 3-year and 5-year OS rates were close to the ideal models.
Conclusion: Inflammation factors were closely associated with abnormal muscle and fat distribution. The combined prognostic value of body composition indicators and systemic inflammation markers was reliable in predicting survival for LACC patients.
Keywords: body composition, systemic inflammatory markers, cervical cancer, overall survival, nomogram