Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio as a potential biomarker for disease severity in COVID-19 patients

Abstract

The global spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a threat to the world on a pandemic scale. Without an available effective vaccine and specific treatment, finding the best solutions for patient management is urgently needed. Looking for differences between vulnerable patients who are severely affected and those with non-severe symptoms is necessary for risk-stratified care management, especially during an emergency, and for forecasting intensive care unit (ICU) requirement. For example, it has been proposed that patients with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of <3 may have a better clinical outcome, whereas NLR > 4 is a predictor of ICU admission [1]. In the search for a reliable prognostic marker of disease severity, we have also investigated the clinical features and laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients with confirmed positive reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) from affiliated hospitals of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Isfahan Province, with a population of ca. 5 million, has become one of the worst infected parts of Iran