Correlation of NLR, PLR and diabetic nephropathy in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and diabetic nephropathy in elderly patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM). Methods A total of 219 T2DM elderly patients were divided into diabetic nephropathy group (DN group, n=110) and non-diabetic nephropathy group (DM group, n=109) according to the urinary albumin excretion rates (UAER). Meanwhile, 101 healthy elderly people who underwent physical examination were selected as the normal control group (NC group). Clinical and biochemical data were collected to compare the differences in NLR and PLR among the three groups and the relationship between NLR, PLR and DN was analyzed. Results Compared with NC group, the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), uric acid (UA), Cystatin-C (Cys-C), triglyceride (TG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were higher, while the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was lower in DM and DN groups, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The levels of BUN, creatinine (Cr), UA, Cys-C, β-2 microglobulin (β2-MG), γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), TC, TG, LDL-C, HbA1c, NLR, PLR were higher in DN group than those in DM group, the differences were significant (all P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the level of NLR was positively correlated with BUN, Cr, UA and Cys-C (r=0.388, 0.302, 0.206, 0.365, P<0.05), and negatively correlated with HDL-C (r=-0.104, P<0.05). PLR level was positively correlated with Cr, UA, Cys-C and β2-MG (r=0.138, 0.237, 0.180, 0.133, P<0.05. Conclusions The levels of NLR, PLR are significantly associated with DN in patients with T2DM. High levels of NLR, PLR may be reliable predictive makers for DN. Key words: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Diabetic nephropathy; Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio