Higher neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio is associated with depressive symptoms in Japanese general male population

Abstract

Relationships between the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and/or the platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neuroinflammatory diseases have been reported. Depression is also associated with neuroinflammation. Here, we determined the association between the NLR, PLR, and depressive symptoms. This cross-sectional study is a secondary analysis of the data of the Iwaki Health Promotion Project 2017. We analyzed the characteristics and laboratory data of 1,015 Japanese subjects (597 females, 408 males) including their NLR and PLR values. We assigned the subjects with a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) score ≥ 16 to the depressive symptoms group. We performed a multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine whether the NLR and/or PLR were associated with depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 16). Two hundred subjects (19.7%; 122 [20.4%] females, 78 [19.1%] males) were assigned to the depressive symptoms group. There were significant differences between the non-depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms groups in the NLR [median (25th to 75th percentile): 1.54 (1.24, 1.97) vs. 1.76 (1.32, 2.37), P = 0.005] and the PLR [median (25th to 75th percentile): 123.7 (102.0, 153.9) vs. 136.8 (107.0, 166.5), P = 0.047] in males, but not in females. The multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the NLR was significantly associated with depressive symptoms in males (adjusted odds ratio: per 1 increase, 1.570; 95% confidence interval: 1.120–2.220; P = 0.009). In conclusion, our findings indicate that higher NLR may be associated with depressive symptoms in males.

Correlation of systemic immune-inflammation index and moderate/major depression in patients with depressive disorders: a large sample cross-sectional study

“…Another study also revealed that non-medicated patients with major depressive episodes had higher levels of NLR than healthy controls ( 32 ). In male patients with depression, NLR was significantly correlated with depressive symptoms, and the higher the NLR, the more severe the symptoms ( 33 ). NLR has become a potential biomarker of inflammation in depressed patients with suicide attempts ( 34 ), HAMD scores in depressed patients were positively correlated with NLR levels in depressed patients, with NLR ≥ 1.57 being an independent predictor of severe or very severe depression ( 35 ).…”

The glucocorticoid response element near the sphingosine-1-phopshate receptor 3 gene mitigates inflammatory processes and maladaptive behavior in females and stressed males

“…We observed minimal effects on overall neutrophil and lymphocyte concentrations, although significant effects indicated that defeat generally tended to reduce neutrophils and lymphocyte were generally lower in females. We were interested in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio because it is a biomarker for PTSD 44 and MDD 42,51 , especially in males 43 . The neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio is thought to be a measure of acute inflammatory processes compared to baseline immune function as neutrophils have a half-life of around 6-12 hours 52,53 whereas the lymphocyte half-life is on the order of weeks [54][55][56] .…”

Association between platelet to lymphocyte ratio and depression and symptom severity among adults in the United States: A cross-sectional study

“…However, in the studies by Uçar et al and Ozyurt et al no significant differences were observed in PLR [ 28 , 29 ]. Meanwhile, another study by Kinoshita et al demonstrated significant differences between depressed and healthy groups, exclusively in males [ 30 ]. And among the above studies, sample sizes ranged from 144 to 1015.…”