Clinical significance and prognostic value of C-reactive protein/albumin ratio in gastric cancer

Abstract Background C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) is a novel prognostic biomarker in several malignancies. This study was aimed to evaluate the clinical significance and prognostic value of CAR in patients with gastric cancer. Methods The data of 205 gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery was retrospectively reviewed. The association with the clinical features and prognostic value of CAR in gastric cancer was analyzed. The data of this study was combined with previous studies to further determine the prognostic value of CAR in patients with gastric cancer. Results Cox analysis revealed that preoperative CAR was an independent prognosis indicator in patients with gastric cancer. High expression of CAR indicated a shorter survival time than those with lower expression. CAR has a higher prognostic value in the 1-, 3-, 5-years of overall survival in patients with gastric cancer. However, CAR has no significant difference regarding the gastric cancer patients’ age, gender and TNM stage. The discriminated value of CAR in TNM stage of gastric cancer was moderate. A meta-analysis by combining previous data and our data showed that preoperative CAR was significantly associated with the overall survival of patients with gastric cancer. Conclusions This study demonstrated that preoperative CAR was an independent prognostic indicator in the patients with gastric cancer who underwent surgery.