Background Inflammation is involved in the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma. We therefore postulate that a blood-based inflammatory marker, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, could help to predict the prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma receiving chemo-radiotherapy, and build a prognostic nomogram. Methods In 111 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma, several baseline variables, including inflammatory markers and lactate dehydrogenase, were measured within the week of chemo-radiotherapy initiation as predictors of mortality and separate risk scores were developed. Results Dichotomized neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was found to be associated with AJCC stage (p
