The Use of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio and Prognostic Nutritional Index for Predicting Mortality in COVID-19 Patients: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Aim: Various prognostic risk-scoring systems and parameters have been investigated to predict mortality in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) scores to evaluate their predictive value on COVID-19-related mortality. Materials and Methods: A total of 1239 patients were admitted in the study. Patients were followed up for 34 months. Specific variables and biochemical parameters were recorded. NLR and PNI values of the participants were calculated and divided into three equal groups from smallest to largest according to these values (NLR and PNI incrementally from 1 to 3). The terciles of NLR and PNI levels were compared between the survival and non-survival groups. Results: The study included 1.239 patients. The patients were followed up for an average of 22 months (range, 0-34 months). Compared to surviving patients in the mortality group, NLR was also significantly higher and the PNI score was significantly lower (p<0.001). Conclusion: Lower PNI and higher score NLR were found to be independent risk factors for mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Keywords

• prognostic nutritional index
• neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio
• mortality
• covid-19