AIM: To evaluate the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)in patients with retinitis pigmentosa(RP)complicated with cataract, and to explore its correlation with the clinical characteristics of RP patients complicated with cataract.

METHODS: The retrospective study included 79 RP patients(125 eyes)complicated with cataract who received cataract surgery at our hospital from January 2008 to December 2018, among which 63 cases(63 eyes)were finally enrolled in the RP complicated with cataract group after the exclusion of patients with early age of onset. Another 63 age- and sex-matched patients(63 eyes)with age-related cataract(ARC)who had cataract surgery during the same period in our hospital were enrolled in the ARC group. The clinical data and NLR were collected, and the correlation of clinical manifestations with NLR in RP patients complicated with cataract was analyzed.

RESULTS: The NLR in RP patients complicated with cataract was significantly higher than that in the ARC group \〖1.79(1.32, 2.27)vs 1.58(1.32, 1.98), P=0.032\〗. NLR was associated with the severity of posterior subcapsular cataract(PSC), zonular deficiency, and preoperative best-corrected visual acuity(>1 LogMAR). Receiver operating curve showed that NLR ≥1.36 could predict higher degrees(>P1)of RP complicated PSC(AUC=0.803, 95%CI 0.672-0.934, P=0.002), NLR ≥2.12 could predict zonular weakness in RP patients complicated with cataract(AUC=0.796, 95%CI 0.665-0.928, P=0.002), while NLR ≥1.51 could predict RP patients with worse preoperative BCVA(AUC=0.667, 95%CI 0.540-0.793, P=0.015).

CONCLUSION: NLR in RP patients complicated with cataract is significantly higher than that in ARC patients, and it is correlated with the clinical manifestations of RP patients with cataract. NLR can be used as a potential predictor to evaluate the severity of clinical manifestations of RP complicated with cataract.