Background: The inflammatory markers are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in endometrial cancers (EC), but hematopoietic aging may affect the results.
Objective: To compare inflammatory markers in geriatric and nongeriatric EC.
Methods: This study included 342 women with endometrial cancers (n: 171) and age-matched controls (n: 171). Geriatric (⩾ 65 years old) and nongeriatric women in each group was compared for inflammatory markers, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and platelet distribution width (PDW).
Results: Geriatric EC had more common nonendometrioid tumors, myometrial invasion, lymph node metastasis, advanced stage, and low overall survival (OS). Nongeriatric EC had low MPV, high NLR, and PDW compared to nongeriatric control. Geriatric EC had low MPV, lymphocyte, and high NLR, PLR compared to geriatric control (p< 0.05). Geriatric EC had significantly low PDW and high NLR, PLR compared to nongeriatric EC in early stages, not in advanced stages. Lymphocyte count was significantly low in geriatric EC with all stages (p< 0.05). In nongeriatric EC, stage was related to platelet count (r: 0.341, p: 0.0019), and PLR (r: 0.252, p: 0.01). OS was negatively related to PLR (r: -0.267, p: 0.007) and NLR (r: -0.353, p: 0.000). In geriatric EC, myometrium invasion was negatively related to lymphocyte count (r: -0.268, p: 0.035). OS was related to neutrophil count (p: 0.352, p: 0.01). MPV was negatively related to stage (r: -0.335, p: 0.01) and OS (r: -0.337, p: 0.02).
Conclusions: The inflammatory responses of geriatric and nongeriatric EC were different in the early and advanced stages. Geriatric EC had low PDW and high NLR, PLR compared to nongeriatric EC in early stages. Decreased lymphocyte count was the most prominent feature of geriatric EC in the early and advanced stages. These results suggested that decreased lymphocyte count may reflect an aggressive course of disease in the elderlies. Future inflammation studies may direct anticancer treatment strategies in geriatric EC. Further research on inflammaging and geriatric EC is needed to increase our understanding of aging and carcinogenesis.
Keywords: Endometrial cancer; geriatric cancers; hematologic markers; inflammation; lymphocyte count; platelet count.