A Retrospective Cohort Study with Blood Parameters for Early Estimation of Multiple Sclerosis: Ratio Suggestion

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a non-traumatic neurological disease that often affects young adults and causes disability. Because there is no curative treatment that can provide full recovery, it is important to make an early diagnosis and slow the course of disease with current drugs. This study aimed to evaluate and compare some blood parameters and their ratios to each other that can provide an advantage in early diagnosis. Methods: We compared changes in blood parameters and their ratios to each other between healthy controls (95) and MS patients (95). The MS group was evaluated in three periods: the new diagnosis period, in which patients did not use any medication for MS, the relapse period, and the 6-month attack-free remission period. Results: The results revealed that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and erythrocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio increased in MS patients, especially during the attack period. It was remarkable that the erythrocyte-lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher than that in the control group in all three MS periods. Conclusion: NLR is considered a neuroinflammation marker. It is argued that NLR reflects systemic inflammation better than neutrophil and lymphocyte counts alone. In addition, in our data, the ratio of erythrocytes to lymphocytes was significantly higher in MS patients. Currently, there is no effective laboratory marker for the diagnosis of MS. We have concluded that complete blood count parameters and their ratios to each other can be biomarkers that can provide early diagnosis of MS.