Prognostic role of haematological indices in sudden sensorineural hearing loss: Review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Complete blood count (CBC) is an important blood test in clinical practice, and it has been recently used to predict the prognosis of patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Some haematological indices of the CBC test have been reported to be associated with the clinical outcome of SSNHL. However, the prognostic value of these haematological indices in SSNHL is currently under debate. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between haematological indices of the CBC test and clinical outcomes in patients with SSNHL. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis of studies that evaluated the association between haematological indices and prognoses in patients with sudden hearing loss. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. Results Ten studies that included 972 individuals were identified. Pooled analysis showed neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (weighted mean difference [WMD] = −1.69 and p  9 /L and p  9 /L and p  Conclusions Our findings indicated that NLR, PLR, neutrophil count and lymphocyte count are strongly associated with the prognosis of SSNHL. These four indices could be recommended as inexpensive markers to report treatment outcomes.