Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment

Abstract

The development of cardiovascular diseases with atherosclerotic origin is associated with a severe inflammatory process. Neutrophils and lymphocytes are cells sensitive to this type of disorder and their ratio, known as the NLR (neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio), has shown to be useful in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to assess the role of NLR in cardiovascular disease risk assessment. We carried out a literature review in the PubMed databases searching for articles published between 2001 to 2017 and found that NLR is in fact a useful marker for cardiovascular disease. Using NLR in patients at cardiovascular risk would be useful to delineate the prognosis of patients with this disease pattern.

Keywords
Cardiovascular Diseases / physiopathology; Biomarkers; Neutrophils; Leukocyte Count; Atherosclerosis / physiopathology; Inflammation