Background: Atherosclerosis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is systemic inflammatory marker that is correlated with poor cardiovascular outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and severity of coronary atherosclerosis.Methods: A total of 324 patients undergoing coronary angiography were included in the study. All the patients were included in study were divided into two groups based on the result of coronary angiography report. While 226 patients had abnormal coronary angiography (case) (78 female, mean age: 60.6±12.6 years), 98 patients had normal coronary angiography (control) (60 female, mean age: 57.2±10.9 years). NLR was calculated as the ratio of neutrophil count to lymphocyte count.Results: Although age distribution was similar between the two groups(p = 0.073), female gender was significantly higher in the normal coronary angiography group (p < 0.001). Smoking history has shown a significant higher in cases compared to the normal coronary angiography (p=0.001). Patients with abnormal coronary angiography had significantly higher NLR when compared to patients with normal coronary angiography (p<0.001). NLR was significantly correlated with Gensini score. In logistic regression analyses, NLR was an independent predictor of CAD. An NLR of 2.34 or higher predicted the CAD with a sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 70%.Conclusions: There is significant association between severity of coronary artery disease and neutrophils to lymphocyte ratio. This study suggests that the NLR is an independent predictor of coronary heart disease that may be useful for cardiac risk stratification in patients with coronary artery disease.

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