Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio as an early new marker in AIV-H7N9-infected patients: a retrospective study

Yan Zhang,1 Pengfei Zou,2 Hainv Gao,2 Meifang Yang,1 Ping Yi,1 Jianhe Gan,3 Yinzhong Shen,4 Weihong Wang,5 Wenhong Zhang,6 Jun Li,7 Peng Liu,8 Lanjuan Li11The State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infectious Disease, Shulan Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Infectious Disease, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Infectious Disease, Central Hospital of Huzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Infectious Disease, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Infectious Disease, Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Infectious Disease, Ningbo No.2 Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: 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