Predicting Potentially Fatal COVID-19 Disease in Pregnant Patients Using the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR)

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values’ possible predictive role in fatal and severe cases of COVID-19 disease in pregnant women. Design and data collection: A case-control study was conducted with the inclusion of 45 pregnant COVID-19 patients. All the data were obtained from the hospital information system of Semmelweis University by two of the authors. Results: Statistical analyses showed that NLR values were significantly higher in patients with fatal COVID-19 compared to those who survived the disease, with or without mechanical ventilation. The study also assessed whether NLR values measured on the first day of hospitalization or at their peak provided better markers of disease severity. While both the first-day and peak NLR values were evaluated in patients who did not survive the disease, only the peak NLR values had predictive value regarding patient death. Conclusion: Based on our results, the peak NLR values appear to be useful markers of COVID-19 severity, with a cut-off value of 18.05. However, the authors suggest and hope that larger sample size studies will be conducted to further validate the findings of their research.

A meta-analysis on first-trimester blood count parameters—is the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio a potentially novel method for first-trimester preeclampsia screening?

“…Our research group additionally conducted a case–control study, which included 45 pregnant patients with COVID-19. Statistical analyses revealed that NLR values were notably elevated in patients who succumbed to fatal COVID-19 compared to those who survived the disease ( 78 ).…”

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and update conclusions from a 2-year double-blind rct testing fermented papaya preparation in healthy middle-aged/elderly subjects

“…In the second year of the study, besides monitoring the stability of the results previously achieved, we managed to pool all 98 patients' data thus enabling a thorough and updated analysis of whole study protocol parameters. Specifically, comprehensive data compilation on NLR could be undertaken, given that elevated values are indicative of unfavorable outcomes in various contexts, including chronic inflammatory conditions, acute infectious diseases, monitoring severity in SARS-COVID-19, and assessing injury induced by environmentally retrievable toxins [13][14][15][16][17][18][19].Given the promising first-year beneficial effect of FPP supplementation in a number of crucial redox parameters and apoptosis regulation, the present study intended to confirm the stability of that data along a further year of observation to study the profile of NLR and its possible relationships with the other variables.…”