Journal of Cerebrovascular Disease 2019 Vol.2 No.1 1-32

Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Novel Biomarker in Ischemic Stroke: A Literature Review

Author(s): Bei-Bei Yao¹,Wen-Wen Du¹,Xin Xia¹,Xiao-Feng Cao¹,Ming-Hua Wu¹

Affiliation(s): ¹Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China

Corresponding Author: Ming-Hua Wu

Corresponding email(s): mhuawu@hotmail.com

Key Words: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Ischemic stroke; Inflammation; Diagnosis; Stroke severity; Prognosis

Background: Ischemic stroke accounts for approximately 80% of all cases of stroke and has the highest rates of morbidity, disability, mortality, and recurrence. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a novel, feasible marker representing an integrated response to inflammation. The purpose of the current review is to evaluate all available evidence from clinical observational trials about the relationships between NLR and ischemic stroke.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and CNKI for clinical observational trials on NLR published up to August 1, 2018, and made a brief summary about the predictive value of the correlation between NLR and ischemic stroke.

Results: A high NLR is associated with increased risk of developing stroke and is a new addition to the traditional risk factors of atrial fibrillation and carotid artery stenosis. NLR on admission is an independent predictor of short- and long-term mortality in patients with acute ischemic stroke. In patients receiving recombinant tissue plasminogen activator or endovascular treatments, high NLR was reported with higher mortality or major disability.

Conclusion: NLR provides an easy, useful method to predict the incidence, severity, and prognosis of ischemic stroke; thus, it can emerge as a new potential target for anti-inflammatory treatment and development of therapeutic strategies.

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On-line Access: 2019-02-01

Received: 2018-11-26

Revision Accepted: 2018-12-31

Publish: 2019-03-01

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