Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40270508›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in medicine2025

The association of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio with post-chemotherapy pulmonary infection in lung cancer patients.

Tao Sun, Xiaobo He, Jun Liu

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Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

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3 authors.

Tao SunDepartment of Hematology and Oncology Laboratory, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, China.
Xiaobo HeDepartment of Hematology and Oncology Laboratory, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, China.
Jun LiuDepartment of Scientific Research, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shaoyang University, Shaoyang, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer patients are particularly vulnerable to pulmonary infections following chemotherapy, which can lead to suboptimal treatment outcomes and increased mortality rates. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), an established inflammatory marker, has been extensively studied; however, its diagnostic value in identifying post-chemotherapy pulmonary infection (PCPI) in lung cancer patients remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the independent diagnostic effectiveness of NLR in detecting PCPI among lung cancer patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on clinical data from 638 lung cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy at the Central Hospital of Shaoyang between January 2020 and December 2023. After excluding cases with incomplete data, 502 patients were included in the final analysis. Due to the low incidence of PCPI within this cohort (19.52%), the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) was utilized to achieve data balance. Both the balanced and unbalanced datasets were subsequently analyzed and validated using multivariable regression analysis, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analysis. Results: The findings demonstrated that NLR serves as an independent risk factor for PCPI in patients with lung cancer, irrespective of dataset balance [balanced dataset: odds ratio (OR) = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08-1.16; unbalanced dataset: OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03-1.13]. Furthermore, in the balanced dataset, after adjusting for all covariates (Model 4), quartile analysis of NLR revealed a significant increase in the risk of PCPI with higher NLR levels (fourth quartile group OR = 5.64, 95% CI: 3.17-10.01, Conclusion: The analysis in this study indicates that NLR has the potential to be a predictor of PCPI for lung cancer patients. Although these preliminary research findings demonstrate diagnostic promise, its clinical applicability still needs to be verified through multicenter prospective studies to provide reliable evidence for decision-making.

Indexed as

lung cancerneutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratiopost-chemotherapy pulmonary infectionRCS analysisSMOTEsubgroup analysis

Identifiers

PMID40270508
PMCPMC12014436

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