title: Assessment of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Age-related Macular Degeneration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an indicator of inflammation in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were evaluated by a review of records. The study included 81 patients with dry AMD (group 1), 84 patients with wet AMD (group 2), and 80 healthy age- and sex-matched controls (group 3). The NLR of the patients was obtained from the hospital laboratory archive and was measured by dividing the neutrophil count by the lymphocyte count.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference was found in NLR values between groups 1 and 2 (p = 0.017), groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.001), and groups 1 and 3 (p < 0.001). In correlation analyses, NLR was correlated positively with age (r = 0.22, p <0.001) and disease severity (r = 0.40, p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with AMD have higher NLR compared with controls, and NLR correlates with disease severity. NLR may be used as a biomarker of inflammation in AMD.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Nilufer
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ilhan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Mutlu Cihan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Daglioglu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ilhan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Mesut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coskun
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Esra Ayhan
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Tuzcu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Hilal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kahraman
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Ugurcan
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Keskin
keywords: Age-related macular degeneration; blindness; inflammation; neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio; retinal drusen