Correlation between neutrophils lymphocytes ratio and disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation between neutrophils lymphocytes ratio (NLR) and disease activity of ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods Case-control study was used to compare NLR differences of 82 active UC patients, 45 inactive UC patients, and 254 healthy controls. The multivariate analysis was applied to analyze the correlation between the NLR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cells (WBCs), and UC activity. The sensitivity and specificity of NLR to identify UC activity was evaluated. Results NLR of active UC group was 2.45±1.22, which was significantly higher than that of inactive UC group and healthy control group, their NLR were 1.92±0.68 and 1.83±0.75, respectively (H=9.991, P=0.007). The multivariate analysis showed that only CRP was correlated with UC activity (OR=1.396, 95% CI: 1.086~1.795, P=0.009). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the optimum NLR cut-off point for UC activity was 2.23, the sensitivity and specificity were 55.82% and 62.75%, respectively. Conclusions NLR has a certain reference value for the evaluation of UC activity, but it cannot be independent as a clinical index to evaluate the UC activity. Key words: Colitis, ulcerative/IM; Neutrophils; Lymphocytes