Letter to the Editor on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

We have read the article written by Chung et al. with great interest [ [1] Chung T.H. Shim J.Y. Lee Y.J. Association between leukocyte count and sarcopenia in postmenopausal women: the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Maturitas. 2016; 84: 89-93 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar ]. This study has demonstrated that sarcopenia may be associated with high level of blood leukocyte level. Although there are some limitations of the article, the major findings of the article are so important and precious. Struggling with sarcopenia is very crucial in high risk population to decrease the morbidity and mortality. We know that the inflammation has an important role in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia. There are a lot of different markers in the literature to test the inflammation. Testing inflammation in sarcopenic patients by using blood leukocyte level is cheaper and easier than other markers. Nowadays, a new marker, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) calculated by using complete blood count (CBC), have been used to show the inflammation in some disorders such as pancreatitis and Alzheimer disease [ [2] Kuyumcu M.E. Yesil Y. Ozturk Z.A. Kizilarslanoglu C. Etgul S. Halil M. et al. The evaluation of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio in Alzheimer’s disease. Dement. Geriatr. Cogn. Disord. 2012; 34: 69-74 Crossref PubMed Scopus (145) Google Scholar ]. The authors of the recent study by Chung et al. emphasized that not analyzing the correlation of blood leukocyte level with other inflammatory markers was one of the limitation of the study. Because they have the results of the patients’ CBC, they can reach the NLR of the patients. So, we suggest that the recent study may be supported and expanded by adding the analysis of NLR of the same patients.