Monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic factor in peripheral whole blood samples of colorectal cancer patients

Table 3 Prognostic factors of 3-yr disease-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer

Variables	Univariate P value	Multivariate P value	HR (95%CI)
Age ( ≤ 60 vs ≥ 60 yr)	0.554	-	1.020 (0.953-1.093)
Sex (female vs male)	0.971	-	1.015 (0.426-2.421)
Tumour growth (expanding vs infiltrate)	0.902	-	0.925 (0.265-3.223)
Tumour size, < 2.5 cm vs 2.5-5 cm vs > 5 cm	0.313	-	1.472 (0.694-3.123)
TNM stage (I-IV)	0.328	-	1.011 (0.988-1.033)
Adenocarcinoma type (nonmuc vs partim mucin)	0.182	-	0.026 (0.000-5.528)
Grade of malignancy (2 vs 3)	0.196	-	0.288 (0.043-1.893)
Preoperative treatment (yes vs no)	0.097	-	2.153 (0.869-5.335)
pT stage (1-4)	0.234	-	1.723 (0.702-4.226)
Venous invasion (yes vs no)	0.379	-	0.358 (0.003-3.535)
Lymphatic invasion (yes vs no)	0.194	-	4.737 (0.451-49.770)
Perineural invasion (yes vs no)	0.100	-	0.134 (0.012-1.474)
Number of lymph nodes removed (< 5 vs 5-10 vs < 10)	0.023a	0.020a	0.415 (0.193-0.890)
Lymph node metastasis (yes vs no)	0.145	-	0.091 (0.003-2.286)
Type of lymph node metastasis (micro vs macro)	0.256	-	0.480 (0.135-1.703)
Number of metastatic lymph nodes (< 5 vs > 5)	0.060	-	1.768 (0.974-3.201)
Lymph node pouch invasion (yes vs no)	0.022a	0.385	14.191 (1.458-138.08)
Distant metastasis (yes vs no)	0.847	-	1.186 (0.209-6.729)
Distant metastasis size (< 10 mm vs > 10 mm)	0.333	-	0.829 (0.568-1.211)
Tumour deposits (yes vs no)	0.074	-	1.996 (0.933-4.270)
Inflammatory cell infiltration in the invasive front (present vs absent)	0.044a	0.015a	1.590 (1.011-2.525)
Monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) before surgery (low vs high)	0.015a	0.214	2.000 (0.814-5.063)
Monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) after surgery (low vs high)	0.265	-	1.000 (0.265-4.302)

^aP < 0.05. TNM stage: Tumour-Node-Metastasis; MLR: Monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio.