Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in pregnancy-associated maternal complications: A review

Abstract

Pregnancy associated diseases/disorders are associated with significant maternal and neonatal morbidities and mortalities. Devising/validating cost effective and easily accessible predictive, diagnostic and risk stratification markers are critical to the management and improved outcome in these diseases. Inflammation forms the backbone of most of the routinely encountered maternal complications of pregnancy. Hematological markers can be considered as a direct reflection of the systemic inflammatory milieu. Recently, the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio has been explored for its potential to assess the severity of inflammation and thus the severity of the underlying disorder. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio has gained scientific attention as a potential prognostic/predictive marker of acute as well as chronic inflammatory diseases including gynecological and reproductive disorders. This present study reviews the mechanistic role of neutrophils and lymphocytes in fueling or propagating the inflammatory cascades in the three most common maternal complications of pregnancy and the evidence of clinical importance of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in predicting, diagnosing, and prognosticating pregnancy-associated complications.

Keywords

• neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio; pregnancy; preeclampsia; gestational diabetes mellitus; ectopic pregnancy; inflammation