Preoperative high c-reactive protein/albumin ratio is a poor prognostic factor of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Aim: To explore whether c-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio is a poor prognostic factor for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Patients & methods: Receiver-operating characteristic analysis was performed to evaluate the optimal cut-off value of CRP/Alb ratio in 240 patients with OSCC. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot the overall survival and disease-free survival curves. Cox proportional hazards model was used to implement univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Preoperative high CRP/Alb ratio was associated with age, advanced stage, lymphatic metastasis, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (all p <0.05). Elevated CRP/Alb ratio independently predicts worse overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with OSCC. Conclusion: Preoperative high CRP/Alb ratio was a poor independent prognostic marker of OSCC.