China Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ›› 2023, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (2): 131-136.doi: 10.19438/j.cjoms.2023.02.005

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Risk factors and clinical value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in prediction of delirium after free flap surgery for head and neck cancer

SHEN Meng-yuan1, ZHANG Xue-ying1, ZHAO Shan1, XU Xin-chen2, LI Xiao-dong2, MENG Jian1,2   

  1. 1. Bengbu Medical College. Bengbu 233000, Anhui Province;
    2. Department of Stomatology, Xuzhou Central Hospital. Xuzhou 221000, Jiangsu Province, China
  • Received:2022-07-27 Revised:2022-10-04 Online:2023-03-20 Published:2023-06-12

Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the incidence and risk factors of postoperative delirium (POD) after free flap reconstruction in patients with head and neck cancer, and then establish the risk prediction model and investigate whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has potential to be a biomarker for prediction of delirium. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 128 patients who underwent free flap surgery for head and neck cancer in Xuzhou Central Hospital between January 2016 to March 2022 were performed. The patients were evaluated daily after surgery until discharge for delirium with Confusion Assessment Method (CAM), and they were divided into delirium group and non-delirium group. The related risk factors of delirium were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software package. Logistic regression was used to screen clinical indicators and develop a risk prediction model. The predictive power of the model was verified by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) of the prediction model and the sensitivity and specificity under the optimal threshold. RESULTS: A total of 17(13.3%) patients had POD. Single factor analysis results indicated that POD was associated with age≥65, preoperative NLR, preoperative total protein, time of operation, intraoperative blood transfusion, postoperative ICU observation time, postoperative sleep disorder and postoperative pain. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the independent risk factors of POD included age≥65(OR=5.253; 95%CI: 1.146-24.074), preoperative NLR(OR=1.891; 95%CI: 1.050-3.405), intraoperative blood transfusion(OR=6.108; 95%CI: 1.109-33.644), postoperative sleep disorder (OR=9.292; 95%CI: 1.441-59.914) and postoperative pain(OR=1.807; 95%CI: 1.018-3.206). The receiver operating characteristic curve of the NLR-predictive model constructed using these risk factors was AUC=0.913, the Youden's index was 0.522, the best cutoff for NLR was 2.540, the sensitivity was 0.765 and the specificity was 0.757. CONCLUSIONS: NLR predictive model has good predictive value for POD in patients with head and neck cancer after free flap reconstruction. NLR has the potential as a biomarker, which can be used to guide early intervention and treatment in clinical practice.

Key words: Head and neck cancer, Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, Postoperative delirium, Risk factor Prediction model

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