Inflammation has been shown to play an integral role in a number of different disease processes. There is evidence that measurements of the systemic immune/inflammatory response are associated with mortality in patients with certain malignancies, as well as those with atherosclerotic disease. A variety of readily available inflammation-based prognostic scores, combining serum constituents of the systemic immune/inflammatory response, have been suggested for use in these patient groups. However, it is unclear whether systemic inflammation-based scores are universally associated with mortality across all tumour types and whether this relationship persists in atherosclerotic conditions including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. The optimal constituents of such a score are also still to be determined. The present thesis further examines these topics with specific reference to:
1. The relationship between the presence of cancer, an inflammation-based prognostic score and biochemical parameters in a large group of unselected patients.
2. The relationship between an inflammation-based prognostic score and cancer survival in patients with malignancies at a number of different sites.
3. A comparison of commonly available inflammation-based prognostic scores in patients with cancer.
4. The prognostic value of a derived neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, commonly available in patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy.
5. The optimal serum constituents of the systemic inflammation-based Glasgow Prognostic Score (optimised) in patients with cancer.
6. The optimal constituents and prognostic value of a systemic inflammation-based score for predicting cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and all-cause mortality
