Relationship between Microvascular Complications and Elevated Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between microvascular complications and elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from a family medicine unit. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at Family Medicine Unit 92 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security. A total of 232 medical records of T2DM patients were analyzed through probabilistic sampling. A data collection form, designed by the researchers, was used to collect sociodemographic, biochemical, and clinical variables, which were analyzed with GraphPad Prism 10 using χ2 and Student’s t-tests. Results with a p-value <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: NLR was calculated for each medical record, and it was found that 51 patients (22%) had elevated NLR values. Elevated nlr was associated with sex, hypertension, and poor glycemic control (p<0.05) but not with body mass index (BMI), age, and duration of T2DM. A statistically significant relationship was observed between elevated nlr and the presence of microvascular complications such as nephropathy, neuropathy, cardiopathy, and retinopathy (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between elevated NLR and diabetic cardiopathy (OR: 7.93, 95% CI, 3.29-20.33, p<0.05). Conclusion: Elevated NLR values were associated with the presence of microvascular complications in t2dm patients, suggesting that nlr may be useful as a biomarker for managing diabetic patients in family medicine consultations.