Predictive ability of admission neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio on short-term outcome in patients with spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage

As one of the prototypical intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage (SCH) is treated with different strategies by comparing with supratentorial hemorrhage (SH). Additionally, SCH patients usually suffer from worse prognosis than patients with other types of ICH. It is well documented that the unique anatomic structures of posterior cranial fossa lead to a higher risk for brainstem compression and/or brain edema in SCH patients. Recently, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was reported to possess an excellent predictive ability for the prognosis of patients with ICH, and most of those cases are SH. Thus, the potential association between NLR and the prognosis of SCH patients remains to be elucidated. Here, we aim to assess the predictive role of admission NLR and other available inflammatory parameters for the outcomes of patients with SCH. All patients with acute SCH admitting to West China Hospital from February 2010 to October 2017 were retrospectively enrolled. According to the absolute neutrophil count, absolute lymphocyte count, white blood count and absolute monocyte count extracted from electronic medical records, NLR was calculated. The multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to analyze the associations between disease outcome and laboratory biomarkers. The comparisons of predictive powers of each biomarker were assessed by receiver operating curves (ROCs). The spearman analyses and multiple linear analyses were also conducted to identify the independent predictors for admission NLR. Admission NLR independently associated with 30-day status (odds ratio [OR] 1.785, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.463–2.666, P <.01) and exhibited a better predictive value (AUC 0.751, 95% CI 0.659–0.830, P <.001) with the best predictive cutoff point of 7.04 in 62 patients with unfavorable outcomes. Moreover, absolute neutrophil count, absolute lymphocyte count, presence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score were also correlated with admission NLR, respectively. Admission NLR is a potential marker to independently predict the 30 days functional outcome of SCH patients. Based on our results, systemic inflammation in admission might be considered as an important player in participating the pathological process of patients with SCH.