The role of neutrophyl lymphocyte count ratio as an inflammatory marker in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Aim: to evaluate neutrophyl lymphocyte count ratio (NLCR) as an inflammatory marker in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods: this was a cross sectional study involving 21 SLE patients with mild and moderate disease activity according to Mex SLEDAI score and 30 normal subjects. White blood cells counts were examined with Sysmex XE-5000. The absolute neutrophyl count and absolute lymphocyte count were tabulated and compared between SLE and normal subjects using unpaired t-test. The comparison of NLCR between SLE and normal subject was calculated using Mann-Whitney test. This study was conducted in the Department of Internal Medicine Hasan Sadikin Hospital from November 2011 until January 2012.
Results: there was no significant difference in absolute neutrophyl count between SLE and normal subjects (4158+1517 vs 4031+1218 /mm3, p=0.74). The absolute lymphocyte count was significantly lower in SLE than normal subjects (1721+600 vs 2397+587/mm3, p=0.000). NLCR was significantly higher in SLE than normal subjects (2.52 (1.01-10.92) vs 1.65 (0.77-4.59), p=0.007). There was no significant difference in NLCR between SLE with mild and moderate activity (2.59 (1.01-10.92) vs 2.01 (1.38-3.98), p= 0.412). Based on ROC curve, with AUC 0.727, cut off NLCR value >1.93 had 70% sensitivity and 67% specificity in differentiating between SLE and normal subjects.
Conclusion: NLCR could be used as simple inflammatory parameter in SLE.