A study on the assessment of severity of major depression in relation to neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio

Abstract

To assess the severity of major depression in relation to neutrophillymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio. A total of 186 patients gave their consent to participate in this study. The symptoms and the severity of depression were assessed by using the  “Hamilton rating scale for depression” (HAM-D). Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis and were subjected to measure the values of neutrophils, lymphocytes, platelets, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio. The mean values of  neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in mild, moderate, severe and very severely depressed individuals were found to be 1.40 (±0.24), 2.52  (±0.27), 3.53 (±0.3) & 4.39 (±0.3) respectively and it was observed that the values of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was increased as the  severity of the depression increases (r=0.9995, p=0.0005). The mean values of platelet-lymphocyte ratio in mild, moderate, severe and  very severely depressed individuals were observed to be 147.21 (±34.25), 217.83 (±12.09), 267.31 (±15.86) & 316.29 (±18.44) respectively  and it was found that the values of platelet-lymphocyte ratio was increased as the severity of the depression increases (r=0.9993,  p=0.0007). Increase in severity of depression positively correlated with increase in the values of both neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)  and plateletlymphocyte ratio (PLR). Increased values of PLR showed a significant impact when compared to the values of NLR, as more  than two third of the patients (71.5%) reported an increased values of PLR beyond their normal range when compared to the increased values of NLR which was just con????ined to only 4.8% of the study population.