Prognostic potential of albumin to fibrinogen ratio in multiple myeloma patients

Abstract

The albumin/fibrinogen ratio is a cheap, simple, useful and independent biological marker used in several clinical disorders. Particularly, it has been evaluated in different types of malignant neoplasms and in this regard, in recent years, many researchers have focused this topic. In this paper, we examined the behaviour of this parameter in a cohort of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. The study population includes 190 patients (mean age of 69+/- 10 years of which 88 were women and 102 were men) in which the albumin/fibrinogen ratio was determined at the time of diagnosis and the study enrolment. We have examined this ratio in relation to different anthropometric and prognostic parameters, but also to survival. Our results show that this ratio is significantly influenced by the sex, the hematocrit values, the hemoglobin levels, the beta-2 microglobulin, the red cell distribution width and RDW/albumin ratio. Instead, it is not affected by age, RDW/hemoglobin ratio, LDH values and the bone marrow plasma cell infiltration. Moreover, we observed a marked difference in this ratio between surviving and deceased MM patients. The obtained data, although preliminary, may help to understand the complexity of multiple myeloma, especially in the field of the prognostic evaluation, and they could suggest a role for the albumin/fibrinogen ratio as an additional biomarker of multiple myeloma.