Preoperative peripheral blood routine indicators as predictors of prognosis and diagnosis in glioma under the 2021 World Health Organization classification

Abstract

Multiple hematological indicators have been shown to be associated with the prediction and prognosis of gliomas. The present study aimed to explore the value of 22 preoperative peripheral blood routine indicators in the diagnosis and prog‑ nosis prediction of glioma. Patients with glioma were grouped according to the 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for glioma. The correlations among preoperative peripheral blood routine indicators in all patients with glioma were assessed using Spearman's rank correlation analysis. The relationships between these indicators and glioma molecular subtypes were evaluated using ANOVA, independent samples t‑test and logistic regression analysis. Analysis of prognosis prediction was conducted using multivariate Cox regression. Based on the WHO 2021 guidelines, patients with glioma were classified into 92 cases of astrocytoma, 77 cases of oligoden‑ droglioma and 402 cases of glioblastoma. Among 22 routine blood indicators, 10 low‑correlation indicators were identified, 9 of which demonstrated significant value for the diagnosis of glioma. Among them, the neutrophil percentage (NEUT%) showed a notable predictive power in glioma molecular subtypes classification. In the study of overall survival (OS) prediction in patients with glioma, 6 biomarkers were found to be significantly associated with OS. Through statistical analysis, 4 independent biomarkers were selected to construct a multivariable Cox regression model. However, in the regres‑ sion model, NEUT% was identified as the sole statistically significant biomarker. Despite its statistical significance, the results indicated that NEUT% had limited effectiveness in predicting OS in patients with glioma. Certain preoperative blood indicators had significant predictive value for glioma diagnosis, with NEUT% emerging as a key biomarker for predicting the presence of glioma. For prognosis, although NEUT% showed a modest effect size, it was significantly asso‑ ciated with poor outcomes in patients with glioma. Monitoring preoperative NEUT% levels is therefore clinically important for glioma diagnosis and prognosis.