Short-term prognostic value of the neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio in patients with acute kidney injury

Abstract

Background: mortality in patients with acute kidney injury is high and sometimes low- and medium-income health systems lack tools capable of predicting the prognosis of these patients. Objective: to estimate the prognostic value of short-term mortality of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in patients with acute kidney injury in an intensive unit care. Methods: a retrospective cohort analytical study was conducted in 124 patients with acute kidney injury from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. A k-means cluster analysis was performed, requesting the creation of three clusters according to values of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. Survival curves were constructed using the Kaplan-Meier method and the survival means were compared using the Log-Rank test. The optimal cut-off point of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was established for the prediction of mortality and the discriminatory capacity was evaluated through the area under the curve of the C statistic. Results: mortality was higher in the third tercil (76.74 %). The deceased patients had a significantly higher median index than the survivors (6.73 vs. 4.55; p<0.001). The discriminatory power was good, C index: 0.847 (95 % CI: 0.780-0.913; p<0.001) and the cut-off point was 4.88 (95 % CI: 4.43-6.35), above which was associated with a significantly lower survival (81 vs. 149 hours; p<0.001). Conclusions: the present study shows the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio with abilities to predict mortality in patients with acute kidney injury.

Keywords

• neutrófilos
• diálisis renal
• lesión renal aguda
• mortalidad
• pronóstico
• linfocitos