Association Between the Percentages of Lymphocytes, Monocytes, and Neutrophils and Brucella Epididymo-orchitis: A Multicentric Study

Abstract

Objective: There are insufficient data in the literature concerning whether cellular changes in tissue are reflected in blood circulation in granulomatous infections, such as zoonotic brucellosis. In this study, we compared laboratory parameters between patients with brucella (BEO) and non-brucella epididymo-orchitis (NBEO). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 84 patients with BEO and 92 with NBEO who presented to six medical centers between 2017 and 2021. Results: The median age of the patients was 41 (interquartile range: 27-61) years. In the multivariate analysis, the presence of abdominal pain (p=0.003), the percentage of lymphocytes (p=0.012) and the percentage of monocytes (p=0.029) were significantly higher in the BEO group than in the NBEO group. In addition, the percentage of neutrophils (p=0.001) was significantly lower in the BEO group than in the NBEO group. In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, the percentage of lymphocytes had an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.808 at a cut-off point of >22.1%, the percentage of monocytes had an AUC value of 0.745 at a cut-off point of >7.7%, and the percentage of neutrophils had an AUC value of 0.746 at a cut-off point of <66.8%. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, there is no other study comparing the percentages of lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils between patients with BEO and NBEO. The percentages of mononuclear leukocytes (monocytes and lymphocytes) and neutrophils may be useful for the pre-diagnosis of BEO in endemic areas.

Keywords

• brucella
• orchitis
• lymphocytes
• monocytes
• neutrophils