Pifu-xingbing zhenliaoxue zazhi (Apr 2019)

Predictive value of NLR in secondary thyroid abnormalities in female patients with vulvar lichen sclerosus

  • Jun-bo DU,
  • Guang-de PEI,
  • Jin-feng DU,
  • Xi ZHEN,
  • Shu-zhen ZHAO

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8468.2019.02.003
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 2
pp. 73 – 77

Abstract

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Objective: To investigate the predictive value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in secondary thyroid abnormalities in female patients with vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS). Methods: A total of 273 female patients with VLS were collected from January 2014 to June 2018. The follow-up was limited to patients secondary thyroid abnormalities or to Dec 31, 2018. Female patients with thyroid abnormalities secondary to VLS were setted as observation group and others were setted as control group. The difference of thyroid hormone and antibody levels between the two groups were compared. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between NLR and vulvar leukoplakia area, thyroid hormone and antibody levels. The predictive value of NLR in female patients with thyroid abnormalities secondary to VLS was analyzed by ROC curve. Results: The average age of VLS patients was (42.17±8.65) years old. The lesions were mostly located to the labia and vaginal orifice, most of which showed depigmentation or hypopigmentation. The prevalence of thyroid abnormalities was 13.92% (38/273). The follow-up time of thyroid abnormalities after female patients diagnosed with VLS was (15.21±3.48) months, and most patients showed with high level of TPO-Ab and TSH. Pearson correlation analysis showed that NLR was positively correlated with leukoplakia area, TSH and TPO-Ab levels (r=0.232, 0.531, 0.499 respectively). ROC curve area of predicting NLR in female patients with thyroid abnormalities secondary to VLS was 0.906 (95% CI: 0.841~0.971) by ROC curve result. When NLR was 5.585, the Yoden index, sensitivity and specificity was 0.736, 84.2% and 89.4%, respectively. Conclusions: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction or antibody abnormalities in female patients with VLS is higher. NLR can effectively predict the occurrence of thyroid abnormalities in the female patients with VLS. Clinicians should routinely detect the level of NLR in patients with VLS.

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