Evaluation of C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio as Inflammatory Markers in Patients with Chronic Bronchitis Taking Oral Prednisolone in Maysan City Population

Background: Clinically, chronic bronchitis is defined as a persistent cough lasting at least three months over the course of two years in a patient where all other causes have been excluded. It is almost invariably described as a feature of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) secondary to smoking. Patients and methods: Ninety-five Iraqi patients newly diagnosed with chronic bronchitis were selected to participate in this study. Sixty patients (40 male and 20 female) were enrolled in the current study their ages were ranged from (40-65 years). The patients were divided into two groups, in the first group (responders’ group) the patients were responded to oral prednisolone therapy, and in the other group the patients were not responded to oral prednisolone therapy (non-responders’ group). The assessment of responsiveness to prednisolone will be according to ATS (American Thoracic Society) which define the responders as those with a response of >12% baseline and >200 ml of FEV1. This study is a prospective observational clinical trial was carried out in thoracic consultant clinic at Al- Sader teaching Hospital in Maysan city from March 2022 until March 2023. The prednisolone tablets given in a dose of 30mg /day for 14 days. Aim of the study: The current study was aimed to identify the association of the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and neutrophils-lymphocytes ratio with the response of chronic bronchitis patients to oral prednisolone therapy. Results and Conclusions: CRP, IL-6, and NLR consider as good predictive markers (P value<0.001) to determine the responsivity of patients with chronic bronchitis taking oral prednisolone tablets for 14 days.