Background  The early clinical manifestations of patients with influenza viral sepsis lack specificity, and rapid progression may occur in short time. PLR is used in the early screening and prognosis prediction of a variety of diseases, but there is few research in influenza virus sepsis.

Objective  To investigate the application value of platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in early screening and prognosis of influenza virus sepsis.

Methods  Totally 109 patients were selected in the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2016 to March 2023. The patients were divided into influenza ordinary group (n=59) and influenza virus sepsis group (n=50). General information and laboratory tests within 24 hours of admission were compared between the two groups. The predictive value of PLR for influenza virus sepsis and its effect on prognosis were analyzed.

Results  The lymphocyte count and PaO2/FiO2 in patients with influenza virus sepsis were significantly lower than those in common influenza group, while age, PLR and D-dimer were significantly higher than those in the common group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that PLR was an independent predictor of influenza viral sepsis (OR=1.010, 95% CI: 1.002-1.018, P＜0.05). ROC curve showed that PLR had the largest area under the curve (0.755), the highest sensitivity (0.820) and the cut-off value was 123.79. Patients with influenza sepsis in the high PLR group (≥123.79) after 5 days of treatment had longer hospital stay (MIQR: 13.508.75-19.75 days vs 8.007.00-10.00 days, P=0.016), and higher mortality (28.57% vs 4.00%, P=0.011).

Conclusion PLR is an independent predictor of influenza virus sepsis. Patients with a high level of PLR after treatment have a long hospital stay and a high mortality rate. PLR can be used for early screening and prognosis of influenza virus sepsis.