The relation between platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index in acute pulmonary embolism

In this study, we aimed to investigate the value of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) for predicting disease severity based on simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI), as well as in-hospital mortality in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE).

Our hospital's electronic patient database was searched for the patients with ICD-9 code I26, and eligible 646 patients were included in the study.

Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that PLR, pulmonary artery systolic pressure, right ventricular dysfunction, D-dimer level, and white blood cell, lymphocyte, platelet and neutrophil counts were significantly correlated with a high sPESI score in patients with APE.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature showing that a high PLR is independently associated with a high risk of mortality in patients with APE.