Application of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio to identify CT-negative cerebral infarction with nonfocal symptoms

Background: The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has emerged as a strong predictor of mortality in stroke patients. Our study aimed to investigate the correlation between NLR and cerebral infarction with nonfocal symptoms confirmed by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) (+).

Methods: A total of 439 patients with nonfocal stroke symptoms with CT-negative findings were included from January 1 to December 31, 2018. All patients underwent a head MRI examination within seven days following a head CT examination. The patients' demographics, medical history, presenting symptoms, and stroke location were recorded. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were used to identify variables with a significant association with cerebral infarction.

Results: Cerebral infarction was detected in 79 (18%) patients confirmed by DWI(+), located mostly in the cerebellum (40.51%). Dizziness (85.19%) was the most common symptom. The cerebral infarction group showed a higher prevalence of hypertension (P<0.0001), diabetes mellitus (P<0.0001), and smoking status (P=0.001) than non-cerebral infarction group. The NLR (P<0.0001) was higher in the cerebral infarction group. There was no significant difference in NIHSS (P=0.09). Logistic analysis revealed that male gender (P=0.046), a history of hypertension (P=0.001), diabetes mellitus (P=0.001), smoking (P=0.023), and NLR (P<0.0001) were the best predictors of cerebral infarction. When integrating sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and NLR, the area under ROC value of the combined method was 0.785, higher than any separate parameters (P<0.05).

Conclusions: NLR combined with male gender, a history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking, could predict DWI-confirmed cerebral infarction with nonfocal neurologic symptoms with high diagnostic accuracy.