Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in COVID-19: A cheap prognostic marker in a resource constraint setting

Abstract

Objectives: To identify association of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio with disease severity and mortality.

Methods: Total 720 Corona Virus RT-PCR positive patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were admitted to KRL Hospital Islamabad from April 2020 to August 2020. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was recorded on admission and then serially. NLR cut-off was 3.0. WHO categories for disease severity (asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe) were used. Demographic profile, symptoms and co-morbidities were recorded.

Results: The mean age of patients was 40 ± 12.4 years with 96% being males. Majority patients (76.5%) were asymptomatic. Amongst symptoms, fever was the most common symptom. Diabetes mellitus was most common recorded co-morbidity. The mean NLR 2.5 ± 2.78. Significant association was found between NLR and disease severity as well as mortality. Difference in mean NLR amongst disease severity categories was also significant

Conclusion: Results are compatible with worldwide studies and NLR is a cheap and easily available marker of disease severity and mortality.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.4194

How to cite this:
Toori KU, Qureshi MA, Chaudhry A, Safdar MF. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in COVID-19: A cheap prognostic marker in a resource constraint setting. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(5):1435-1439. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.4194

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.