Prediction of severity of preeclampsia in Egyptian patients: role of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio and C-reactive protein

Abstract

Prediction of severity of preeclampsia in Egyptian patients: role of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio and C-reactive protein A.E. Kholeif1, M.Y. Khamis1, S. Eltabakh2, R.S. Swilam3, A. Elhabashy1, R. EISherif1 1Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2Medical Biochemistry, 3Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria (Egypt) Summary Objective: In this study, the authors aimed to compare and correlate neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in Egyptian patients with different degrees of preeclampsia (PE). Materials and Methods: The authors recruited 105 Egyptian pregnant women with gestational age ≥ 34 weeks. They were divided into 35 normotensive pregnant and 70 PE women, further subdivided into 35 mild and 35 severe PE cases according to ACOG criteria. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between patients with PE and healthy pregnant women as regards to NLR. PLR showed statistically significant difference between the control and severe PE cases and between mild and severe PE cases. CRP levels showed a statistically significant difference between the control and mild PE cases and between the control and severe PE cases. Conclusion: CRP was more sensitive and specific than PLR to predict PE in pregnant females, hence it can be used in prediction of PE. PLR was more sensitive but less specific than CRP to predict severity of PE in pregnant females, therefore PLR can be used for early prediction of severity. NLR cannot be used as a marker for prediction of PE or its severity. Key words: Preeclampsia; Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR); platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR); C-reactive protein (CRP).