Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio acts as a novel diagnostic biomarker for kidney stone prevalence and number of stones passed.

BACKGROUND

This study evaluated the relationship between inflammatory biomarkers and the prevalence of kidney stones and number of stones passed.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of adult participants (≥20 years) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 to 2014. We calculated key inflammatory biomarkers, such as the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effect of inflammatory biomarkers on the prevalence of kidney stones and number of stones passed.

RESULTS

A total of 21,106 participants were included in the final study, and 1,864 patients reported a history of kidney stones (including 292 who had passed no stones, 1,462 who had passed stones 1-5 times, and 110 who had passed stones >5 times). The chi-square test showed that the NLR, MLR and SII were closely related to the occurrence of kidney stones and the number of stones passed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a high NLR (>1.72) was associated with an increased prevalence of kidney stones and number of stones passed (OR =1.18, 95% CI: 1.03-1.36, P=0.019).

CONCLUSIONS

A convenient biomarker, the NLR can be used as a good predictor for the diagnosis of kidney stones and number of stones passed; these findings are worthy of further research and application in clinical practice.