Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio as A predictor Inflammatory Marker for Microvascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes

Retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and nephropathy are microvascular consequences of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Numerous investigations have shown an important role for inflammation in the etiology of diabetes complications. In systemic illnesses, the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is regarded as a predictive inflammatory measure. The paper aims to assess if NLR as an inflammatory bio-maker can be used for the detection of microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes. (retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and nephropathy). This is a case-control study with 60 persons 40 of them are diabetic patients divided into 2 groups :(20) with microvascular complications (group 1), the other (20) without microvascular complications (group 2) and twenty individuals with age and sex matched controls group (group 3). All patients had a comprehensive medical history and physical examination, as well as laboratory tests such as complete blood count (CBC), fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, renal function tests (serum urea and creatinine), liver function tests (ALT, AST), lipid profiles (serum cholesterol, Triglycerides (TG), Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and High-density lipoprotein (HDL), albumin to creatinine ratio in urine, and urine analysis. Additionally, fundus and abdominal ultrasonography were performed. There was a highly statistically significant increase in NLR in diabetic patients with at least one or more microvascular complications (retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and nephropathy) in comparison with the control group. NLR may be employed as a diagnostic predictor of inflammatory indicators of diabetic microvascular complications (retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and nephropathy).