Can neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio be used as an indicator of inflammation in patients with hyperthyroidism?

BACKGROUND: In our study, we aimed to evaluate changes in the neutrophil and lymphocyte series and investigate whether the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is indicative of inflammations in patients with hyperthyroidism. METHODS: A total of 161 patients were enrolled, 121 of which had hyperthyroidism (71 Graves' Disease (GD) and 50 non-Graves hyperthyroidism (NGH) patients) and 40 of which were control group members. Retrospectively, patients' neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were taken, and the NLR was calculated. RESULTS: While the number of neutrophils was significantly lower in the GD group (p = 0.003), there was no significant difference between the NGH and the control group. In the GD group, NLR values were significantly lower than the other two groups (median 1.39 for GD, median 1.84 for NGH and median 1.83 for the control group, p < 0.001). Only three patients in the GD group had neutropenia. There was also a significant negative correlation between free T3 and neutrophil count and NLR in hyperthyroid patients (r = -0.28, p = 0.001 and r = -0.34, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we found that NLR did not in crease in hyperthyroid patients and that this ratio decreased due to the decrease in neutrophil levels in GD. We thus concluded that NLR is not a suitable indicator of hyperthyroidism.