Evaluation of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte and Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratios in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of disease activity with Neutrophil-Lympho­cyte Ratio (NLR) and Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW). Methods: Seventy seven RA patients and 97 healthy sub­jects were examined retrospectively. People with chronic and systemic diseases were excluded from control group of the study. The disease activity scores (DAS 28) of pa­tient group, hematologic parameters and inflammation parameters of both groups were analyzed statistically us­ing independent t-test and spearman correlation test. Results: Age and gender was not found different be­tween groups. CRP and ESR levels were significantly higher in RA group (p<0.001). Hemoglobin and platelet count were lower (p<0.001 and p=0.022), while RDW, NLR, PLR and MPV levels were significantly higher in RA group (p<0.001, p<0.001. p<0.001, p<0.001, respec­tively). In patient group, ESR (p<0.001), lymphocytes (%) (p= 0.042), absolute neutrophil (p=0.047), and platelets (p= 0.019) were positively, whereas lymphocytes were negatively affected by improvement disease activity (DAS 28) scores. PLR levels significantly negatively correlated with MPV levels (r= -0.386) but showed a significant posi­tive correlation with RDW (r= 0.354) and NLR levels (r= 0.618). Conclusion: NLR and PLR are important and promising factors for disease activity estimation of rheumatoid ar­thritis and may be used in clinical practice. In our opinion, larger studies consisting larger group will help determina­tion of disease activity of RA by more specific indices us­ing these parameters.