Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio may predict coronary artery disease in geriatric patients

Objective: Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a new, inexpensive and easily applicable indicator and one of the markers showing inflammation that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). There is currently no data showing the association between NLR and CAD in geriatric patients. Herein, we aimed to determine this relationship in this study. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 507 patients of whom 239 were diagnosed with CAD while 268 were not. The patients’ demographic characteristics, illnesses, laboratory parameters and NLRs at the time of admission were investigated. Results: Mean age, gender rate, and comorbidities of the patients were similar between two groups. NLR was higher in patients with CAD than controls (2.34 vs. 2.03, p=0.003, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that optimum NLR cut-off point for CAD was 1.96 with 66.5% sensitivity and 48.8% specificity, 54.1% positive predictive values and 61.7% negative predictive values (AUC=0.575). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that NLR (OR: 1.208, 95% CI: 1.008–1.447, p = 0.041) and cigarette smoking (OR: 2.281, 95% CI: 1.037–5.019, p=0.040) were independently correlated with CAD. Conclusion: It has been shown that geriatric patients with CAD have higher NLR, and this new marker may be an independent correlate for CAD in geriatric patients.Key words: Coronary artery disease; neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio; elderly; geriatric; neutrophils; lymphocytes