A correlational study on neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in bronchial asthma

Introduction: Inflammation is an integral component of bronchial asthma associated with hyperresponsiveness and chest tightness. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been proven as independent inflammatory markers in various conditions. This study is an effort to evaluate the correlation between these two markers in asthma. Materials and Method: With the approval of the Ethical Committee, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, 194 subjects were enrolled for the current study. Out of which, 122 were proven asthmatics diagnosed by pulmonologist and 72 non-asthmatic healthy volunteers. Blood samples were collected from all the individuals and subjected to complete blood count. NLR and PLR were calculated and analysed for each study group. The continuous data were expressed as mean +/- standard deviation and Student's t-test. The correlation analysis was performed between the various groups. Results: A statistically significant difference was noted with respect to NLR and PLR between asthma patients and non-asthmatic healthy controls (P = 0.0001). NLR alone varied significantly between responders (mild asthmatics) and poor responders (moderate asthmatics) of the patient group. Further, a positive correlation was noted between NLR and PLR in all the categories, with the highest value in the poor responders. The results are indicative of strong interdependency of NLR and PLR in a condition with higher inflammation. Conclusion: Future studies are warranted to explore this relation in understanding the disease severity/drug response to monitor or to identify the better drug target.