Evaluation of hematological parameters in inactive hepatitis B infection; neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and mean platelet volume

AIM: It is estimated that the hepatitis B virus, a serious global public health problem, affects more than 250 million people. Herein, our objective was to quantify several hemogram measurements, like neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and mean platelet volume (MPV) and to determine their relationship with inflammation in hepatitis B infection (HBV).

MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study included 94 patients aged 2–18 years, who were under follow-up at our hospital for hepatitis B infection between January 1st, 2005 and December 31st, 2015. These individuals served as the patient group. The control group was composed of 88 healthy children of similar age and sex.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference concerning neutrophil count and NLR (p=0.698 and 0.842, respectively). A significantly lower absolute lymphocyte count significantly and a significantly higher MPV was found in the hepatitis B-positive group than in the controls (p <0.05 for both comparisons). The groups had similar hematocrit, hemoglobin, platelet count, RBC count, and white blood cell (WBC) count (p=0.642, p=0.388, p=0.418, p=0.366, and p=0.824, respectively). The two groups individually showed a positive correlation between platelet count and MPV (r=0.32, p=0.01 and r=0.36, p=0.01, respectively). NLR and MPV were positively correlated in both groups (r=0.38, p=0.01 and r=0.41, p=0.01, respectively).

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the study groups did not exhibit any significant difference concerning NLR, PLR, and PLT/MPV levels but it found a significant intergroup difference in MPV. We believe it is of great importance to develop simpler, inexpensive, and easy-to-use noninvasive methods to determine the level of inflammation in chronic hepatitis B infection; Parameters, such as NLR, PLR, and MPV, can be simple and rapid test markers to serve these purposes.