The Relationship Between 14C Urea Breath Test Results and Neutrophil/Lymphocyte and Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratios

Abstract

Aim: Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are used as inflammatory markers in several diseases. However, there are little data regarding the diagnostic ability of NLR and PLR in Helicobacter pylori. We aimed to assess the association between the 14C urea breath test (14C-UBT) results and NLR and PLR in H. pylori diagnosis. Methods: Results of 89 patients were retrospectively analysed in this study. According to the 14C-UBT results, patients were divided into two groups: H. pylori (+) and H. pylori (-) (control group). Haematological parameters, including hemoglobine, white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, NLR, platelet count, and PLR were compared between the two groups. Results: The mean total WBC count, neutrophil count, NLR and PLR in H. pylori (+) patients were significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.001 for all these parameters). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cut-off value for NLR and PLR for the presence of H. pylori was calculated as ≥2.39 [sensitivity: 67.3%, specificity: 79.4%, area under the curve (AUC): 0.747 (0.637-0.856), p<0.0001] and ≥133.3 [sensitivity: 61.8%, specificity: 55.9%, AUC: 0.572 (0.447-0.697), p<0.05], respectively. Conclusion: The present study shows that NLR and PLR are associated with H. pylori positivity based on 14C-UBT, and they can be used as an additional biomarker for supporting the 14C-UBT results.

Keywords

• 14C urea breath test
• neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio
• platelet/lymphocyte ratio