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).Conclusion: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.

Diet induced weight loss reduces mean platelet volume in people with obesity

“…But it was not statistically significant (25). Additionally, in that study, it was reported that NLR , itself, could not be a reliable marker of inflammation, and did not differ according to the degree of obesity (25). Similar to that study, we found that there was no difference between the initial NLR value and the value after weight loss and NLR was not affected by BMI.…”

“…But it was not statistically significant (25). Additionally, in that study, it was reported that NLR , itself, could not be a reliable marker of inflammation, and did not differ according to the degree of obesity (25).…”

Pretreatment Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Was a Predictor of Lymph Node Metastasis in Endometrial Cancer Patients

“…Moreover, NLR is calculated from a convenient and inexpensive test that is a useful predictor of LN metastasis, and hopefully could be used for the management and treatment of endometrial cancers. NLR was not affected by obesity, so it would be beneficial for patients with endometrial cancers [23]. However, as it is a systemic inflammatory marker, consideration should be given to the effects of other general conditions (e.g., smoking and common inflammatory disease) [24].…”

A transcript-wide association study in physical activity intervention implicates molecular pathways in chronic disease

“…We interrogated the NTR/NESDA twins to identify associations between physical activity genes and white blood cell count, an indicator of inflammation. In addition to age and sex, we adjusted the models for BMI and smoking status to measure the association of physical activity with white blood cell count independent of BMI and smoking status [61][62][63][64] . We also adjusted the model for the random effects for family and monozygosity resulting in:…”