The role of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and lymphocyte-monocyte ratio in the prognosis of type 2 diabetics with COVID-19.

Liu, Gaoli; Zhang, Shaowen; Hu, Haifeng; Liu, TingTing; Huang, Jie

OBJECTIVES To assess the prognostic value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, lymphocyte-monocyte ratio and red cell distribution width in type 2 diabetics with COVID-19. METHODS We collected the data of type 2 diabetics with COVID-19 treated in our hospital from January 28 to March 15, 2020 and performed a retrospective analysis. Using severity, duration of hospital stay, and the time required for nucleic acid results became negative as prognostic indicators, we explored the relationship between these inflammation-based markers and prognosis of type 2 diabetics with COVID-19. RESULTS A total of 134 type 2 diabetics with COVID-19 were selected for this study. Correlation analysis showed that NLR, LMR and RDW were correlated with prognosis (P < 0.05). In multivariate regression analysis after controlling for the relevant confounding factors, COVID-19 diabetes patients with higher NLR had heavier severity, longer duration of hospital stay, more time required for nucleic acid results became negative, and heavier hospital expenses (P < 0.05). ROC curve result displayed that higher NLR predicted all prognostic indicators with statistical significance, and lower LMR predicted severe and extremely severe with statistical significance (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS NLR is a more powerful and practical marker for predicting the prognosis of type 2 diabetic COVID-19 patients that is simple and fast.