title: Is the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio indicative of inflammatory state in patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Obesity causes subclinical inflammation. Leukocyte count and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) are used to indicate inflammation in clinical practice. Also, inflammatory markers are evaluated as important indicators of cardiovascular risk in patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). We aimed to investigate the usage of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an inflammatory marker in obese patients with and without MetS.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included a total of 1267 patients. The patients were assigned groups according to degree of obesity and status of MetS. Metabolic and inflammatory markers were compared between groups, and correlation analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Leukocyte count and hs-CRP were significantly different (p<0.001), but NLR was not different between body mass index (BMI) groups (p=0.168). Both lymphocyte and neutrophil counts were significantly increased with increased degree of obesity (p<0.001, p=0.028, respectively). Leukocyte, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts and hs-CRP level showed a significant correlation with BMI (r=0.198, p<0.001; r=0.163, p<0.001; r=0.167, p<0.001; r=0.445, p<0.001, respectively), whereas NLR was not correlated with BMI (r=0.017, p=0.737). Only a significant association between a MetS severity of 5 and 4 with hs-CRP level was observed (p=0.028), whereas there was no statistically significant association for leukocyte count and NLR (p=0.246; p=0.643, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NLR was not a good indicator of inflammation, while leukocyte and hs-CRP were more useful biomarkers to indicate inflammation in non-diabetic patients with obesity and MetS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Düzce University, Düzce-Turkey. anzelbahadir@duzce.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Anzel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahadır
authors.forename: Davut
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baltacı
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Türker
authors.forename: Yasin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Türker
authors.forename: Darkov
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Iliev
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Öztürk
authors.forename: Mehmet Harun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Deler
authors.forename: Yunus Cem
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Sarıgüzel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers