Table 2.
General characteristic of studies included only in qualitative review.
| First author | Year of publication | Location | Design | Type of stroke | Mean age | Male (%) | Time of blood test | Time of monitoring presence of infection | Main findings | NOS score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giede-Jeppe, A. | 2017 | Europe | P | Hemorrhagic | 70.74 | 46.54 | At admission | Within 7 days of admission | The NLR > 4.6 is a good predictor of PSP (P value < 0.01) and sepsis (P value < 0.01), but not UTI (P value = 0.13). | 8 |
| Duan, Zh. | 2018 | East Asia | R | Ischemic | 65.66 | 39.45 | Within 4.5 h of admission | Not declared | The NLR > 7.0 is a good predictor of PSP (P value < 0.01). | 9 |
| Almufti, F. | 2019 | USA | P | Hemorrhagic | – | 31 | Within 24 h of admission | Not declared | The NLR ≥ 5.9 is a good predictor of PSP (P value < 0.001) and fever (P value = 0.02) but not sepsis (P value = 0.07). | 7 |
| Giede-Jeppe, A. | 2019 | Europe | P | Hemorrhagic | 53 | 30.73 | At admission | Within 7 days of admission | The NLR ≥ 7.05 is a good predictor of PSP (P value = 0.01). However, it could not predict either ventriculitis or sepsis (P value = 0.87 and P value = 0.45, respectively). | 7 |
| Giede-Jeppe, A. | 2019 | Europe | P | Ischemic | 72.66 | 52.8 | At admission | Within hospitalization | NLR is independently associated with PSP (risk ratio [95% CI]: 1.083[1.019–1.151] per 1 point increment; P = 0.01). | 5 |
| Guo, R. | 2019 | East Asia | R | Hemorrhagic | 46.09 | 57.93 | Within 24 h of admission | Within 7 days of admission | The NLR ≥ 8.25 is a good predictor of PSP (P value < 0.02). | 6 |
| Kakhki, R.D. | 2020 | Iran | P | Both types | 66.96 | 47.77 | At admission | Not declared | The NLR > 5.0 is a good predictor of PSI in patients with ischemic (P value = 0.01) stroke but not hemorrhagic (P value = 0.11) stroke (overall P value < 0.01). Also, it could predict PSP in ischemic (P value = 0.03) stroke but not hemorrhagic (P value = 0.11) stroke (overall P value < 0.01). However, it could not predict UTI and sepsis in either ischemic (P value = 0.22 and P value = 0.19, respectively) or hemorrhagic (P value = 0.1 and P value = 0.97, respectively) stroke (P value = 0.94 and P value =0.34, respectively). | 5 |
| Gusdon, A. | 2021 | USA | P | Hemorrhagic | 54 | 35 | Within 5 days of admission | Not declared | The NLR ≥ 8.25 is a good predictor of PSI (P value < 0.01). | 6 |
| Hou, D. | 2021 | East Asia | P | Both types | 81.29 | 51.79 | At admission | Within hospitalization | The NLR > 5.0 is a good predictor of PSP (P value < 0.01) but not UTI (P value = 1). | 6 |
| Kim, T.J. | 2021 | East Asia | R | Ischemic | 97.7 | 59.7 | At admission | Within hospitalization | The NLR is a good predictor of PSP (P value = 0.01) and sepsis (P value < 0.01). | 5 |
P: prospective; R: retrospective; NLR: neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio; PSI: poststroke infection; PSP: poststroke pneumonia; UTI: urinary tract infection.