The study was aimed to investigate the influence factor between preoperative inflammatory indicators and drainage tube retention time in patients with breast cancer.This retrospective study enrolled 121 patients with breast cancer who were undergoing surgery between October 2020 and June 2021. The enumeration data were used the Chi-square test, and the measurement data were used the t-test analysis. The univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were performed to access the risk factors for affecting drainage tube retention time in patients with breast cancer. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was performed to test the prediction effect of the model.Through the median extraction time of postoperative drainage tube retention time, all patients were divided into two groups: drainage tube retention time (DTRT) < 13 (d) and drainage tube retention time (DTRT) ≥ 13 (d). The results showed that type of surgery, total lymph nodes (TLN), pathological T stage, NLR were related to the drainage tube retention time (P<0.05). Moreover, the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis performed that Hb, type of surgery, pathological T stage, chest wall drainage tube, NRI were the independent risk predictors of affecting drainage tube retention time. Furthermore, a significant correlation existed between NRI and drainage tube retention at different times (P < 0.05).NRI is an independent risk factor for postoperative drainage tube extraction time and can effectively predict the probability of drainage tube retention time. Thus, it can also provide personalized nursing intervention for patients with breast cancer after drainage tube retention time and the rehabilitation process.© 2024 Li et al.