Socio-clinical and Immuno-inflammatory-related differences between early-onset and late-onset colorectal cancer

Introduction: This study aimed to identify socio-clinical and immuno-inflammatory markers of early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) for early detection of aggressive cancer in Southern Nigeria. Material and Methods: This study included 89 patients with CRC diagnosed from Jan. 2016 to Dec. 2022. The patients were sub-grouped based on age and chemotherapy response. The neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), platelets-neutrophils-to-lymphocytes ratio (PNLR), and neutrophils-to-lymphocytes platelets ratio (NLPR) were assessed and analyzed accordingly. Significance was set at p< 0.05. Results: Metastatic and stage III/IV CRCs were prevalent among patients older than 50 years compared with patients aged 50 years or less (p< 0.05). Among patients aged > 50 years, the pre-treatment (pre-T) to post-treatment (post-T) total white blood cell count (TWBC), neutrophils, monocytes, and NLPR significantly increased whereas the post-T lymphocyte count and LMR significantly declined (p< 0.05). 9 The Post-T TWBC count was significantly higher among patients aged > 50 years (14.20 ± 4.50 10^ /L) 9 compared with patients 50 years old or younger (9.19 ± 1.50 10^ /L) whereas the Post-T monocyte count and LMR were lower among the former (9.12 ± 2.33 and 2.87 ± 0.60) compared with the latter than the post-T values of patients who were ≤ 50 years old (11.81 ± 3.57 and 6.76 ± 3.92) at p= 0.033, 0.026, and 0.001, respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed a higher frequency of CRC and mortality risk among patients older than 50 years. It suggests that SIII could be used as a prognostic tool for CR