The Relationship between Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Aortic Arch Calcification in Ischemic Stroke Patients.
BACKGROUND
Inflammation plays a central role in atherogenesis and artery calcification. Although neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been introduced as an inflammatory marker for atherosclerosis, the relationship between NLR and aortic arch calcification (AAC) has not been studied. This study aimed to determine the association between NLR and AAC.


METHODS
A total of 749 participants were enrolled. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Degree of AAC in each enrolled patient was determined with Agatston method based on a neck computed tomography angiography. NLR was divided into 4 groups according to quartile values. Generalized linear model (ordinal probit) was performed to assess the association between NLR quartiles and severity of AAC.


RESULTS
There were 151 (20.2%), 153 (20.4%), and 445 (59.4%) patients classified as without AAC, with mild AAC, and with severe AAC, respectively. Patients with severe AAC had the highest NLR values (2.37[1.79-3.42] versus 2.29[1.55-2.96] versus 2.17[1.64-2.91], P = .025) compared to patients without AAC and with mild AAC. In age- and sex-adjusted models, patients with the highest NLR (quartile 4) were correlated with severer AAC (β = .348 ± .128, P = .006) compared to those with the lowest levels (quartile 1). The correlation between NLR quartile 4 and severer AAC still existed (β = .335 ± .129, P = .009) in multivariable-adjusted model.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggested that NLR may reflect the severity of AAC. NLR may be considered as a valuable predictor of the degree of artery calcification.
Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Shuyu
S
Zhou
Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Biyang
B
Cai
Department of Gerontology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Yumeng
Y
Zhang
Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Li
L
Wang
Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: xfliu2@vip.163.com.
Xinfeng
X
Liu
Department of Neurology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: gelinxu@nju.edu.cn.
Gelin
G
Xu
D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001027:Aortography / Q000379:methods; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000072226:Computed Tomography Angiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009504:Neutrophils; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D061205:Vascular Calcification / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
Aortic arch calcification; atherosclerosis; ischemic stroke; neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio