The efficacy of albumin–globulin ratio to predict prognosis in cancer patients

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths in the United States and compiles the most recent data on population-based cancer occurrence and outcomes. Incidence data (through 2018) were collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program; the National Program of Cancer Registries; and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Mortality data (through 2019) were collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. In 2022, 1,918,030 new cancer cases and 609,360 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States, including approximately 350 deaths per day from lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death. Incidence during 2014 through 2018 continued a slow increase for female breast cancer (by 0.5% annually) and remained stable for prostate cancer, despite a 4% to 6% annual increase for advanced disease since 2011. Consequently, the proportion of prostate cancer diagnosed at a distant stage increased from 3.9% to 8.2% over the past decade. In contrast, lung cancer incidence continued to decline steeply for advanced disease while rates for localized-stage increased suddenly by 4.5% annually, contributing to gains both in the proportion of localized-stage diagnoses (from 17% in 2004 to 28% in 2018) and 3-year relative survival (from 21% to 31%). Mortality patterns reflect incidence trends, with declines accelerating for lung cancer, slowing for breast cancer, and stabilizing for prostate cancer. In summary, progress has stagnated for breast and prostate cancers but strengthened for lung cancer, coinciding with changes in medical practice related to cancer screening and/or treatment. More targeted cancer control interventions and investment in improved early detection and treatment would facilitate reductions in cancer mortality.

Background Delays in time to treatment initiation (TTI) for new cancer diagnoses cause patient distress and may adversely affect outcomes. We investigated trends in TTI for common solid tumors treated with curative intent, determinants of increased TTI and association with overall survival. Methods and findings We utilized prospective data from the National Cancer Database for newly diagnosed United States patients with early-stage breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, renal and pancreas cancers from 2004–13. TTI was defined as days from diagnosis to first treatment (surgery, systemic or radiation therapy). Negative binomial regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used for analysis. The study population of 3,672,561 patients included breast (N = 1,368,024), prostate (N = 944,246), colorectal (N = 662,094), non-small cell lung (N = 363,863), renal (N = 262,915) and pancreas (N = 71,419) cancers. Median TTI increased from 21 to 29 days (P<0.001). Aside from year of diagnosis, determinants of increased TTI included care at academic center, race, education, prior history of cancer, transfer of facility, comorbidities and age. Increased TTI was associated with worsened survival for stages I and II breast, lung, renal and pancreas cancers, and stage I colorectal cancers, with hazard ratios ranging from 1.005 (95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.002–1.008) to 1.030 (95% CI 1.025–1.035) per week of increased TTI. Conclusions TTI has lengthened significantly and is associated with absolute increased risk of mortality ranging from 1.2–3.2% per week in curative settings such as early-stage breast, lung, renal and pancreas cancers. Studies of interventions to ease navigation and reduce barriers are warranted to diminish potential harm to patients.

Low serum albumin was found as a predictor of long-term mortality in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Our aim was to evaluate the value of the pretreatment albumin/globulin ratio (AGR) to predict the long-term mortality in CRC patients. Patients were included if they had comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) before treatment (surgery or chemotherapy). The albumin/globulin ratio, routinely reported in CMP, is calculated [AGR = Albumin/(Total protein - Albumin)]. Patients were divided into three equal tertiles according to their pretreatment AGR. The primary outcome was cancer-related mortality, which was obtained from our cancer registry database. A total of 534 consecutive CRC patients had pretreatment CMP. The 1st AGR tertile had a significant higher 4-year mortality compared to the second and third AGR tertiles (42 vs. 19 and 7 %, p  3.5 g/dl), serum AGR continues to be an independent predictor of cancer-related mortality with an adjusted hazard ratio of the third tertile compared to the first tertile equal to 0.05 (95 % confidence interval 0.01-0.33, p = 0.002). Low AGR was a strong independent predictor of long-term cancer-specific survival among colorectal cancer patients. Additionally, among the patients with normal albumin (>3.5 g/dl), patients with lower globulins but higher albumin and AGR levels had better survival.