ObjectiveThis paper intends to investigate the clinical value of serum long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) OTUD6B-AS1 and lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 in the early diagnosis and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).MethodsA total of 108 CRC patients admitted to the Rehabilitation University Qingdao Central Hospital from March 2020 to March 2021 were selected as the study group, while 108 healthy individuals who underwent physical examinations at the same period served as the control group. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression levels of serum lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 and lncRNA ITGB8-AS1. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors affecting CRC patient mortality. ROC curve analysis was used to assess the predictive value of lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 and lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 for CRC patient mortality.ResultsCompared with the control group, the expression level of lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 in the study group is significantly reduced, while that of lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 is significantly increased (P<0.05). Follow-up results show that among 108 CRC patients, 33 died (designated as the death group), while 75 survived (designated as the survival group). There are no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, BMI, tumor diameter, tumor location, tumor histological type, tumor differentiation grade, CRC family history, surgical treatment or not, or chemotherapy or not (P>0.05), while differences in TNM staging are statistically significant (P<0.05). Compared to the survival group, the expression level of serum lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 is significantly lower, and serum lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 expression level is significantly higher in the death group (P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis show that TNM stage and serum lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 expression level is independent risk factors for CRC patient mortality (P<0.05), while serum lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 expression level is an independent protective factor (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis shows that the area under the curve (AUC) for predicting CRC patient mortality using serum lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1, lncRNA ITGB8-AS1, and their combined detection are 0.848, 0.796, and 0.933, respectively, indicating that the predictive efficacy of combined detection is higher than that of individual detection (P<0.05).ConclusionsSerum lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 expression level is lower in CRC patients, while lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 expression level is higher. Additionally, serum lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 is an independent risk factor and lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 is an independent protective factor for CRC patient mortality. Both lncRNA OTUD6B-AS1 and lncRNA ITGB8-AS1 show promise as biomarkers for predicting mortality in CRC patients.