Background / Aim: Measles is a contagious disease with good prognosis;
however, severe complications may sometimes develop. C-reactive protein
(CRP) and blood cells countderived inflammatory indices,
granulocyte-lymphocyte ratio (GLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR),
monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR), mean platelet volume-platelet count
ratio (MPR), red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mean platelet
volume (MPV) are the indicators related to the clinical outcome in various
inflammatory diseases. Aim: The aims of this study were to analyze the
values of CRP, blood cell count and GLR, PLR, MLR, MRP, RDW, MPV in
measles-affected children compared to healthy controls and between
measles-affected children with severe and without a severely complicated
form. A particular aim of the paper was to assess the suitability of
inflammatory-derived markers for predicting the severity of the disease.
Methods: The examination group included 55 measles-affected children who
developed complications. The control group included 30 healthy children. The
first peripheral blood count, obtained on the first hospitalization day
(before treatment), was used for further analyses. Results: The white blood
cells, lymphocytes, monocytes and platelets count were significantly lower,
while the values of GLR, PLR, MPR and CRP were significantly higher in
measles-affected children (p?0.05). In severely complicated measles,
significantly higher values of granulocytes, CRP, GLR, PLR and lower
lymphocytes (p<0.05) were documented. A linear regression analysis showed
that CRP was the only indicator with predictive significance for the
severity of the course of measles. Conclusion: The blood cell count and
derived inflammatory indices should not be crucial in assessing the severity
of measles in children. CRP was the most valuable predictive factor for the
development of the severe course of measles in measles-affected children.
