Fig. 1
Association of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio with functional class and transplantation-free survival in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH): Patients with WHO-FC of III/IV compared to I/II showed a higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (p = 0.0281, a). Similarly the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was higher in patients who deceased or were referred to lung transplantation (p = 0.0394, b). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed an unfavorable transplantation-free survival for patients with a neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio > 4.14 (p = 0.001, c). This sustained in subsets of patients with incident disease (p = 0.001, d) or in the absence of any cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF,p < 0.001, e) applying the same cut-off. CVRF including arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and body mass index greater of equal 30 kg/m2. CVRF = cardiovascular risk factors. WHO-FC = World Health Organization functional class