The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in children with atopic dermatitis: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR) is a novel marker for the evaluation of inflammation and has not been evaluated previously in patients with AD. OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between NLR and the clinical findings of AD. METHODS Sixty-six children with AD were included in the study.The control group was included 66 children who have no allergic and chronic diseases.The immunoglobulin(Ig)E levels and complete blood count were measured. Skin prick tests were performed using the same antigens for all patients. RESULTS NLR was not significant between the patient and control groups (p>0.05).The patients with AD were divided into 3 groups according to their SCORAD score as mild, moderate and severe AD.No statistically significant difference was present between groups in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics,eosinohil-lymphocyte ratio,eosinophil-neutrophil ratio,the percentage of eosinophil, IgE,the sensitivity of skin tests(p>0.05). However,NLR and sensitivity to house dust mite were significantly different among groups(respectively,p=0.037,p:0.043).SCORAD scores were weak positively correlated with NLR levels,eosinophil-lymphocyte ratio and the sensitivity of house dust mite (respectively,r:0.329;p:0.007,r:0.264;p:00035,r:0.325;p:0.008). CONCLUSIONS We didn't found significant difference in term of mean NLR betweeen patients with AD and control group. NLR was found significantly higher in severe AD patients than mild AD patients.The house dust mite sensitivity, eosinohil-lymphocyte ratio and NLR were correlated with AD severity.