As a New Inflammatory Marker for Familial Mediterranean Fever: Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio

• DOI: 10.1007/s10753-013-9675-2
• Publication Date: 2013-06-20T07:19:22Z
• Authors: Ahmet Ahsen; Memnune Sena Ulu; Seref Yuksel; Kasım Demir; Mukremin Uysal; Mujgan Erdogan; Gursel Acarturk
• Keywords: Adult; Inflammation; Male; Neutrophils; Familial Mediterranean Fever; 3. Good health; Leukocyte Count; 03 medical and health sciences; C-Reactive Protein; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Female; Lymphocytes; Biomarkers

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), which is an autosomal recessive disease, is characterised by recurrent febrile episodes in association with peritonitis, pleuritis and arthritis and has ongoing subclinical inflammation during attack-free period. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between FMF with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which is determined in many chronic inflammations as a new potential inflammatory mediator. We included 62 patients and 41 healthy subjects who were similar in terms of age and sex. We found that the NLR values of the patients were significantly higher than those of the control group, and C-reactive protein values were correlated with NLR. Another finding was the NLR values were significantly higher in the FMF patient with M694V mutation than with other mutations. As a result, NLR might be used in the FMF patient as an indicator of the subclinical inflammation, and the FMF patients with M694V mutation should be followed up closely because of increased subclinical inflammation risk.