Early research suggests that inflammation plays a key role in the development of SARS CoV-2 infection. The immune response to respiratory infection is characterized by an influx of neutrophils to the lungs. Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that a sustained release of anti-inflammatory cytokines may lead to high levels of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes' apoptosis with subsequent lymphopenia and immune response imbalance. Therefore, circulating biomarkers that represent inflammation and immune status could serve as potential predictors for the prognosis of SARS CoV-2 patients. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are cheap and simply calculated biomarkers which have been identified as markers of systemic inflammation, severity of the disease and prognosis in several patient populations.
This study ought to investigate the association of simple biomarkers such as NLR and PLR with the clinical outcome in SARS CoV-2 infection patients.
