title: The evaluation of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is growing consensus in the literature that inflammation plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The blood neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a new, inexpensive and easily applicable marker of inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between NLR, as an inflammatory biomarker, and AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  241 AD patients and 175 patients with normal cognitive function were evaluated in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean ± SD NLR of AD patients was significantly higher than that of patients with normal cognitive function (3.21 ± 1.35 vs. 2.07 ± 0.74, p < 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggested that the optimum NLR cutoff point for AD was 2.48 with 69.29% sensitivity, 79.43% specificity, 82.30% positive predictive values and 65.30% negative predictive values. Logistic regression analysis showed that elevated NLR (OR: 4.774, 95% CI: 2.821-8.076, p < 0.001) was an independent variable for predicting AD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly people with AD have higher NLR than healthy controls. Elevated NLR levels are usually considered as an inflammatory marker. The results of this study suggested that inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. mekuyumcu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Mehmet Emin
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kuyumcu
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yesil
authors.forename: Zeynel Abidin
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Oztürk
authors.forename: Cemal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kizilarslanoğlu
authors.forename: Sezgin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Etgül
authors.forename: Meltem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Halil
authors.forename: Zekeriya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ulger
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cankurtaran
authors.forename: Servet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arıoğul
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D015415:Biomarkers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes; D008297:Male; D009504:Neutrophils; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers