Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Evidence shows that stroke-induced inflammatory responses play an essential role in the development of poststroke depression (PSD). The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to critically evaluate the literature regarding the use of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a reliable means to detect early PSD development, to help clinicians institute early interventions and improve outcomes. METHODS: Electronic databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus, were searched, and eight studies were included. We assessed the certainty of the associations with GRADE methods. RESULTS: We found that patients with PSD had higher NLR than the stroke patients with no depression (SMD = 0.51; CI 95% = 0.29-0.73, p < 0.001). Also, we found a significantly higher PLR in the patients with PSD when compared to the stroke patients with no depression (SMD = 0.66; CI 95% = 0.19-1.13, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These findings indicated that NLR and PLR could be considered inexpensive biomarkers for the prediction of PSD.