Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42583402›Full record

ArticleJournal of thoracic disease2026

Association between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and risk of immune checkpoint inhibitors-related pneumonitis and radiation pneumonitis in lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Zhuqing Zhang, Daqing Peng, Yanggang Ou, Lin Liu, Zhen Ni

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Article in Journal of thoracic disease, 2026. 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

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Zhuqing ZhangDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.
Daqing PengDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.
Yanggang OuDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.
Lin LiuDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.
Zhen NiDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for prediction of risk of immune checkpoint inhibitors-related pneumonitis (CIP) and radiation pneumonitis (RP) in patients with lung cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the relationship of NLR with the risk of immune CIP and RP among lung cancer patients. Methods: Web of Science, Embase, PubMed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched up to October 27, 2025. Odds ratios (ORs) were combined and subgroup analyses by tumor type [non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lung cancer or small cell lung cancer (SCLC)] and grade of pneumonitis (all grades or grade 3 or higher) were performed. Results: Eleven studies with 2,439 patients were included and 298 (12.2%) patients experienced the CIP and/or RP. For patients receiving concurrent immunotherapy and radiotherapy, NLR was not associated with risk of pneumonitis. Pooled results demonstrated that NLR was not associated with the risk of CIP (OR =1.22, P=0.14) and subgroup analysis by tumor type also manifested negative results. However, elevated NLR was significantly related to the occurrence of severe (grade 3-5) CIP [OR =7.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.51-17.92, P<0.001]. Besides, higher NLR predicted increased risk of RP (OR =2.75, 1.75-4.33, P<0.001) in NSCLC and subgroup analysis by the grade of pneumonitis showed similar positive results (all grades: OR =3.10, P<0.001; grade 3-5: OR =2.36, P=0.01). Conclusions: Based on above findings, NLR might serve as a predictor for the development of severe CIP in lung cancer and RP in NSCLC. However, more relevant studies are still needed to further clarify the predictive role of NLR for CIP and RP among lung cancer patients.

Indexed as

immune checkpoint inhibitors-related pneumonitis (CIP)Keywords: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)lung cancermeta-analysisradiation pneumonitis (RP)

Identifiers

PMID42583402
PMCPMC13460191

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.