Neutrophil- and Platelet- to Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Euthyroid Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

BACKGROUND: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is the most prevalent autoimmune thyroid disorder. Both neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are reported to be increased in various inflammation-related diseases, but their clinical significance in HT remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between thyroid autommunity and NLR and PLR as markers of systemic inflammation in HT.

METHODS: In this study, we evaluated 145 women with HT and 60 age-matched healthy controls. We compared the PLR and the NLR of HT patients with controls and the correlation between the NLR, PLR, and C-reactive protein (CRP), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid antibody titers in the patient group. Also we compared the PLR and the NLR of HT patients that received levothyroxine with those who did not receive levothyroxine RESULTS: There were no significant differences between patient and control groups in terms of overall leukocyte counts, neutrophil counts, and other laboratory tests. In the patient group lymphocyte counts were lower while the platelet counts, NLR (2.29±0.65 vs1.68±0.40), PLR (164.95±55.14 vs106.88±32.19) were higher than those of the control (p<0.001 for all comparisons).

CONCLUSION: In this study we found that NLR and PLR were higher in euthyroid Hashimoto patients than in a healthy control group. NLR and PLR are likely non-specific indicators of immune disorder and their implications for HT and other conditions remain to be elucidated.