Open Access<p>Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio as an early new marker in AIV-H7N9-infected patients: a retrospective study</p>
Author(s) -
Yan Zhang,
Pengfei Zou,
Hainv Gao,
Meifang Yang,
Ping Yi,
Jing Gan,
Yinzhong Shen,
Weihong Wang,
Wenhong Zhang,
Jun Li,
Peng Liu,
Lanjuan Li
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
therapeutics and clinical risk management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1178-203X
pISSN - 1176-6336
DOI - 10.2147/tcrm.s206930
Subject(s) - medicine , biomarker , neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio , case fatality rate , lymphocyte , univariate analysis , gastroenterology , multivariate analysis , immunology , biology , epidemiology , biochemistry
Background: Avian AIV-H7N9 influenza progresses rapidly and has a high fatality rate. However, it lacks an early effective biomarker to predict disease severity and fatal outcomes successfully. Our study aimed to explore whether the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) taken within 24 h after admission can predict disease severity and fatality in AIV-H7N9-infected patients. Methods: We retrospectively studied 237 AIV-H7N9-infected patients from multiple centers from 2013 to 2015. We used univariate analysis and multivariate analysis to compare clinical variables between the survival and fatal groups to evaluate the prognostic value. Results: The NLR taken within 24 h after admission in the fatal group was significantly higher than that in the survival group ( P <0.01). Our study found that NLR was independently associated with fatality. The area under the curve (AUC) of the NLR was 0.70, and moreover, when the NLR =19.94, the specificity was 100%, and the sensitivity was 28.4%. The fatality in the NLR ≥19.94 group was significantly increased relative to the patients with an NLR <19.94 ( P <0.05). Conclusion: The NLR is potentially a predictive prognostic biomarker in patients infected with the AIV-H7N9 influenza virus.