Predictive value of the lactate dehydrogenase-to-albumin ratio (LAR) in classical Hodgkin's lymphoma

Background: The biomarker for overall survival (OS) in patients with classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL) remains an unmet clinical need. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-to-albumin ratio (LAR) has been associated with esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colon cancer studies, but not in cHL. This study aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of LAR in patients with cHL. Methods: A total of 44 patients with newly diagnosed cHL during January 2015 to January 2022 were included in this study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Kaplan-Meier curves, and Cox regression analysis were performed to evaluate the prognostic value of LAR for cHL OS. Results: Univariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that LDH-to-lymphocyte ratio (LLR) [serum LDH level (U/L)/absolute lymphocyte count (x10(9)/L)] >260.91 [hazard ratio (HR) =5.567, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.217-25.459, P<0.05], and LAR [serum LDH level (U/L)/albumin level (g/L)] >12.5 (HR =23.693, 95% CI: 3.126-179.578, P<0.005) were significant prognostic factors for OS. The patients with LAR <= 12.5 had a better 3-year OS compared with patients with LAR >12.5. LAR was a good prognostic indicator for OS in cHL patients with an HR of 10.524 (P<0.05) obtained by multivariate Cox regression analysis. Conclusions: LAR may be a good independent prognostic indicator for OS in cHL patients. A further prospective study is warranted to validate this result.