Reply to “Beyond Association: Proposing a Clinically Actionable NLR-Sarcopenia Risk Stratification Tool for Post-Acute Care Settings”

We are grateful to the authors of the correspondence for their thoughtful engagement with our systematic review and meta-analysis examining the relationship between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and sarcopenia.1 Their comments recognize the value of synthesizing the available evidence on this biomarker while also highlighting the important challenge of translating statistical associations into clinically meaningful applications. This perspective closely reflects the motivation behind our work, which seeks to support more precise patient evaluation and care planning, particularly in postacute care (PAC) environments where the functional burden of sarcopenia is especially evident.