The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with in-hospital heart failure in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective: To explore the association between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and in-hospital heart failure (HF) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: Our present study included 413 patients diagnosed with STEMI and treated with primary PCI. We performed logistic regression models to evaluate the relationship between the NLR and in-hospital HF risk in subjects diagnosed with STEMI.

Results: The incidence of HF after STEMI increased significantly with increasing NLR tertiles (the incidences of the first, second, and third tertiles were 5.07 %, 13.04 %, and 23.36 %, respectively; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression model showed that elevated NLRs significantly increased the risk of in-hospital HF after adjusting for multiple potential covariates. The risk of HF in the second and third NLR tertile groups was 1.27 times greater (95 % CI, 0.42-3.92) and 3.09 times greater (95 % CI, 1.06-9.02) than that in the first tertile group (P for trend = 0.04). Moreover, the in-hospital HF risk increased by 58 % with per 1-SD increment in the NLR (OR, 1.58; 95 % CI 1.24-2.03; P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that the NLR is positively correlated with in-hospital HF risk and is an independent predictor for in-hospital HF in STEMI subjects.