Clinical Significance of NLR and MLR in Ulcerative Colitis / 胃肠病学

ABSTRACT

Background: As a routine examination, peripheral blood leukocytes or white blood cell count is considered to be a simple biological marker for inflammatory diseases; neutrophil and peripheral blood mononuclear cells are also closely related to the activity and severity of various diseases. Aims: To investigate the clinical significance of peripheral blood neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR) in ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: A total of 62 patients with UC from October 2017 to July 2019 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected. Forty-two individuals accepting physical examination were served as control group. Neutrophil count, monocyte count, lymphocyte count, NLR, MLR were compared between the two groups, and their correlations with C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), Mayo score, UCEIS score were analyzed. ROC curve was used to analyze the efficacy of the parameters for diagnosis of UC. Results: Compared with controls, neutrophil count, monocyte count, NLR and MLR in UC patients were significantly increased (P<0.05), while lymphocyte count was significantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with mild UC, neutrophil count, monocyte count, NLR and MLR in moderate to severe UC were significantly increased (P<0.05), while lymphocyte count was significantly decreased (P<0.05). Neutrophil count, monocyte count, NLR and MLR were positively correlated with CRP, ESR, Mayo score and UCEIS score, while lymphocyte count was negatively correlated with above-mentioned indices (P<0.05). When the cut-off value was 0.470, the sensitivity of NLR for diagnosing UC was 0.613, the specificity was 0.857, AUC was 0.731 (95% CI 0.636-0.827); when the cut-off value was 0.439, the sensitivity of MLR for diagnosing UC was 0.629, the specificity was 0.810, AUC was 0.726 (95% CI 0.630-0.822). Conclusions: NLR and MLR are elevated in patients with UC, and can reflect the disease activity, which may be used as a serum marker for diagnosis and evaluation of UC.