The Association between Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and Demographic and Clinical Data in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Patients in Jeddah

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major chronic systemic health concern that could develop macro- and microvascular complications. One of the commonest microvascular complications is diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) which is a type of nerve damage caused by uncontrolled hyperglycemia of diabetic patients. DPN is one of the most common causes of reduction in life quality and disability in DM patients, as well as; it overload the national health care system. Finding a cost-effective, easy prognostic marker to early detect DPN could be an important step in prevention DM complications. Our research aimed to assess the association between neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and demographic and clinical data in diabetic neuropathy patients with average age of 60 years.

Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted on 133 patients by reviewing the data records over the period of 10 years from January 2012 to July 2022. The study was done at king Abdul-Aziz University Hospital, Jeddah, in the western region of KSA amongst diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients who are using either oral hypoglycemic agents or insulin with regular follow ups.

Results: The study included a total of 133 patients with most of them being male i.e., 81 (61%). The mean age of the patients was 60(SD13.5) years. Approximately two-third of the patients 86(64.7%) had diabetes for more than 10 years. There was no significant association identified for gender, age group, nationality, and medication (p >0.05) with HbA1c or NLR. Moreover, there was no significant association between NLR and HbA1c categories.

Conclusion: In conclusion our study showed non-significant relationship between NLR and DPN among elderly diabetic patient at King Abdu al-aziz university hospital (KAUH).