The Role of Glucose-Lymphocyte Ratio in Evaluating the Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Recently, a new inflammatory and prognostic marker called glucose/lymphocyte ratio (GLR) has been used in patients with coronary artery disease. In this study, we analyzed the correlation between GLR and coronary artery disease (CAD) severity in patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS). The study included 341 patients with CCS who underwent coronary angiography and documented coronary stenosis of 50% or more in at least one major coronary artery and 437 individuals with coronary atherosclerosis between 1% and 50% or no coronary atherosclerosis (control group). Blood samples for GLR and other laboratory parameters were obtained from all patients on admission. GLR was obtained by dividing the glucose level by the lymphocyte count. There were more patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in the critical CAD group, and glucose levels ( < 0.001), neutrophil counts ( < 0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels ( < 0.001), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) ( < 0.001), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) ( < 0.001), and GLR ( < 0.001) were higher. In contrast, lymphocyte counts were lower ( < 0.034). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that DM and high CRP were independent predictors of critical CAD ( = 0.004 and = 0.048, respectively). However, high GLR was found to be an independent predictor of critical CAD ( < 0.001). GLR, a simple and easily measured marker, has shown strong predictive value for CAD severity in CCS patients.