Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)
DENeutrophilen-Lymphozyten-Quotient (NLR)
The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) comes straight from a standard blood count. It is your neutrophil count divided by your lymphocyte count. A typical healthy range is about 0.78 to 3.53 (Forget 2017). It reflects a balance: innate immunity (neutrophil-driven) versus adaptive immunity (lymphocyte-driven). A higher NLR means the innate, pro-inflammatory side is dominating. It can also mean adaptive immunity is suppressed. A high NLR is tied to worse outcomes in many cancers, more heart events, chronic kidney disease, and metabolic syndrome. And it independently predicts death from all causes in large studies. NLR spikes sharply during acute stress, infection, or steroid use. But a persistently high resting value is a marker of chronic inflammaging and immune senescence. That makes it a useful, cost-free index from routine lab data.
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Sources
- Forget P, Khalifa C, Defour JP, Latinne D, Van Pel MC, De Kock M. (2017). What is the normal value of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio?. *BMC Research Notes*doi:10.1186/s13104-016-2335-5
- Templeton AJ, McNamara MG, Šeruga B, Vera-Badillo FE, Aneja P, Ocaña A, et al.. (2014). Prognostic Role of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Solid Tumors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. *Journal of the National Cancer Institute*doi:10.1093/jnci/dju124