Value of peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio for clinical diagnosis and prognosis of elderly patients with chronic heart failure and atrial fibrillation.

Aim: We aimed to explore the value of peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: A total of 248 eligible patients were followed up for five years, and divided into major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) and non-MACE groups. The independent predictive factors for MACE were explored by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Based on quartile of NLR, they were divided into groups A to D. The duration of MACE was analysed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. The diagnostic value of NLR for MACE was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results: Higher age, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and NLR, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, diabetes and NYHA heart function class III and IV were independent predictive factors for MACE. The incidence of MACE rose with increasing NLR. Groups A to D had significantly different rates of acute myocardial infarction, severe arrhythmia and cardiac death ( < 0.05). The average duration of MACE in groups A to D were 49.31, 45.27, 43.63 and 40.34 months, respectively.

Conclusions: The sensitivity and specificity of NLR for diagnosis of MACE were 72.39 and 86.18%, respectively. NLR was an independent predictive factor for MACE in these elderly patients with CHF and AF.