Significance of Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Level-to-Serum Creatinine Ratio for Assessing Severity of Inflammation in Patients with Renal Dysfunction.
The aim of this study was to assess the significance of the neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin/serum creatinine ratio (NGAL/sCr ratio) in patients with renal dysfunction. The percent difference between plasma NGAL level and the NGAL/sCr ratio was 36.7% (95% CI, 18.4-83.7%) in patients with sCr level ≥ 1.2 mg/dL. In a multivariate analysis, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was significantly associated with the NGAL/sCr ratio and plasma NGAL level (r = 0.526 and r = 0.453, resp., P < 0.001). In a receiver operating characteristics curve, the diagnostic ability of the NGAL/sCr ratio to identify hsCRP > 4.0 mg/dL was superior to that of NGAL [0.783 (95% CI, 0.674-0.892) versus 0.733 (95% CI, 0.615-0.852), P = 0.032]. The area under the curve of the NGAL/sCr ratio was larger than that of hsCRP to detect corrected erythrocyte sedimentation rate > 25 mm/h and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio >4.5 in renal dysfunction. In short, the NGAL/sCr ratio may offer useful information when screening patients with both systemic inflammation and renal dysfunction.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon 22332, Republic of Korea.
Jong Weon
JW
Choi
School of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Tatsuyoshi
T
Fujii
Department of Electrical Engineering and Bioscience, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Noriyoshi
N
Fujii
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; C489506:LCN2 protein, human; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D003404:Creatinine