Is neutrophil/eosinophil ratio at admission a prognostic marker for in-hospital mortality of acute ischemic stroke?

OBJECTIVES

There has been a recent focus on hematological parameters affecting the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, there are no studies investigating the neutrophil/eosinophil ratio (NER). This study aimed to investigate whether NER at admission is a prognostic marker for in-hospital mortality in patients with AIS.

METHODS

204 AIS patients with similar vascular occlusion were included in the study, including 135 patients who survived and 69 patients who died in the hospital. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the prognostic factors of AIS. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the predictive value of the variables and calculate the cut-off values.

RESULTS

69 patients died in the hospital [24 men and 45 women, median age: 78 (49-99)], and 135 patients survived [58 men and 77 women, median age: 74 (22-99)]. The mean age of patients with mortality was higher compared to the patients who survived (p value=0.007). Multivariate logistic regression model revealed that only NER and red blood cell distribution width (RDW-SD) were prognostic factors (p = 0.036 and p = 0.032, respectively). Areas under the ROC curve were 0.675 for NER (95% CI, 0.59-0.75), 0.636 for neutrophil (95% CI, 0.55-0.71), 0.602 for RDW-SD (95% CI, 0.51-0.69) and 0.656 for eosinophil (95% CI, 0.57-0.74).

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that there is a correlation between the in-hospital mortality of AIS and high NER at admission. NER at admission can be used as a poor prognostic marker for AIS.