The prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) is still unclear. We enrolled 500 patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Blood samples were drawn prior to PCI for NLR and PLR calculation. Major adverse clinical events (MACE), which included death, myocardial infarction (MI), and target vessel revascularization (TVR), were recorded up to 5 years. Patients in the higher tertile of NLR presented higher Kaplan-Meier estimates of MACE (26.0% vs. 16.9% in tertile 2 vs. 14.3% in tertile 1; p = 0.042) and death (12.0% vs 6.9% in tertile 2 vs. 4.6% in tertile 1; p = 0.040), whereas there were no significant differences in the estimates of MI and TVR. NLR in the higher tertile was an independent predictor of MACE (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.07-2.55, p = 0.024). No significant difference was observed across tertiles of PLR. Unlike PLR, elevated pre-procedural NLR is associated with an increased risk of 5-year clinical adverse events.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Coronary artery disease; Inflammation; Platelets.