Neutrophil‐to‐Lymphocyte and Platelet‐to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Children with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory condition that affects the central nervous system. MS in children often manifests with a relapsing-remitting disease course. Recently, blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have proposed as a potentially useful markers of clinical outcome in autoimmune/inflamatory diseases. The aim of this study was to clarify the association of NLR and PLR in children with MS. Materials and Methods: Ten patients with MS and 11 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. NLR and PLR were calculated using complete blood count data. Results: The serum NLR and PLR level in relaps period with MS patients were significantly higher than those of remission period with MS patients and controls (P < 0.001). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study which investigated the role of NLR and PLR as inflammatory biomarkers in patients with MS. Our results demonstrate that NLR and PLR levels are higher in patients with relaps period compared with controls and remission period. NLR and PLR, a simple and easily obtainable parameters, can be used to identify relaps period in MS.