ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of allergic rhinitis (AR) severity with neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios in adult patients. METHODS: The study design was prospective observational study and the study included 209 AR patients and 243 healthy individuals. The patient group comprised 38.2% males with a mean age of 31.8 years. All patients who were diagnosed with persistent AR were included. The healthy control group comprised 52.7% males with a mean age of 32.3 years. The blood examination results of patients and healthy individuals were compared in terms of neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios. The values were further compared within the patient group, according to AR severity. RESULTS: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was 1.70 ± 0.65 in the healthy group and 2.02 ± 1.24 in the patient group. The platelet-lymphocyte ratio result was 100.85 ± 25.33 in the healthy group and 120.67 ± 40.59 in the patient group. When we compared the neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios between the groups, we found statistically significant differences in both ratios (p = 0.003, p = 0.000, respectively). Both the neutrophil-lymphocyte and the platelet-lymphocyte ratios were higher in patients with moderate-severe AR. CONCLUSION: Both neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios are useful markers for diagnosis of persistent AR. Specialists may benefit from these markers to assess the severity of the disease at the beginning of the diagnostic process.
