Association of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and Pulmonary Hypertension in Sarcoidosis Patients

BACKGROUND: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has emerged as a new marker of inflammation associated with the severity of several respiratory and cardiac diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated whether the degree of systemic inflammation in sarcoidosis patients as measured by the NLR is associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH). RESULTS: A NLR > 3.5 occurred with a significantly higher frequency in sarcoidosis patients with PH (50% vs. 24%, P=0.016) yielding a sensitivity of 50%, specificity of 78%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 41.9% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 81.4% and remained independently associated with PH in multivariate analysis (OR: 3.254, 95% CI: 1.094–9.678, P=0.034). CONCLUSION: We conclude that level of inflammation in sarcoidosis patients may be associated with the development of PH. Owing to the relatively good specificity and NPV, NLR may be a good negative test, which is a simple, inexpensive and widely available in office-based setting to predict the risk of PH in sarcoidosis patients.