Risk Factors and the Role of Albumin-to-globulin Ratio in Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis

Evaluating the Risk Factors and the Role of Albumin-to-globulin Ratio in Predicting Recurrence Among Patients With Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis

Albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) is an inflammation-based index that has been shown to have a role in many cancers and inflammatory diseases. Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare inflammatory disease of the breast with a high recurrence rate. As a relatively new biomarker for inflammatory diseases, AGR's role in IGM recurrence has never been investigated in the literature. This study primarily investigates the possible risk factors for IGM recurrence and whether AGR can be used as a predictive factor.

Patients diagnosed with IGM on pathology reports between January 2016 and March 2021 were enrolled in the study and their medical records were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups: recurrence and non-recurrence. Clinical, demographic characteristics, and laboratory parameters were compared. The best cut-off value for significant factors in predicting recurrence was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors that are effective in IGM recurrence.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis
• Patients over the age of 18
• Female patients

Exclusion Criteria:

• Male patients
• Secondary granulomatous mastitis etiologies (tuberculous mastitis and Wegener's granulomatosis)
• Patients who do not have enough follow-up information
• Patients with missing data