Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. May 18, 2025; 16(5): 106145
Published online May 18, 2025. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i5.106145
Role of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Maryam Salimi, Shokoufeh Khanzadeh, Brandon Lucke-Wold, Arshin Ghaedi, Austin V Stone
Maryam Salimi, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Shokoufeh Khanzadeh, Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz 5166614711, Iran
Brandon Lucke-Wold, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States
Arshin Ghaedi, Trauma Research Center, School of Medicine, Shahid Rajaee (Emtiaz) Trauma Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 956256708, Iran
Austin V Stone, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States
Author contributions: Salimi M contributed to the design and implementation of the study and the writing of the manuscript; Khanzadeh S and Ghaedi A contributed to the statistical analyses and the writing of the manuscript; Stone AV contributed to the revision of the manuscript; Lucke-Wold B contributed to the performance of the research.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Austin V Stone, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, University of Kentucky, Suite K401, 740 S Limestone, Lexington, KY 40536, United States. austin.stone@uky.edu
Received: February 19, 2025
Revised: March 25, 2025
Accepted: April 17, 2025
Published online: May 18, 2025
Processing time: 88 Days and 7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluate the role of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in osteoarthritis (OA). Our findings indicate that OA patients have significantly higher NLR levels than healthy controls, suggesting its potential as an inflammatory biomarker. However, NLR does not significantly correlate with OA severity or study design, limiting its utility in assessing disease progression. Further research is needed to clarify NLR’s clinical relevance in OA diagnosis and management.