Application of Neutrophil-lymphocyte Ratio in the Diagnosis of Influenza in Preschool Children

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of influenza A/B in preschool children and neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (NLR) of influenza A/B positive patients and patients with influenza-like illness, in order to provide more ideas and basis for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of influenza-like illness. Methods: Children who were not more than 6 years old, and screened for antigen of influenza viruses in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, were enrolled in this study from November 2017 to February 2018. The venous blood or finger tip blood of the participants were collected for blood routine test. SPSS 19.0 software was used to analyze data. Results: Totally 99 (26.19%) cases with positive influenza A were observed in 378 children with influenza-like illness, 44 (11.64%) cases with positive influenza B, and the 225 cases were not infected. There was significant difference on the value of NLR between patients with influenza A infection and children without infection (P<0.05). When NLR was 0.42, the sensitivity for the prognosis was 86.1%, the specificity was 93.2%, and the area under curve (AUC) was 0.594. Conclusion: NLR has certain clinical value for the diagnosis of Influenza influenza, and can be helpful to diagnose influenza A virus infection by influenza virus antigen screening.