European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Alcohol consumption produces a wide spectrum of hepatic diseases, including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and chronic hepatitis with liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an easily measurable laboratory marker that is used to evaluate systemic inflammation and is used as a marker to assess the severity of the disease.
Methods: The study involved subjects aged > 40 years of age who were admitted to a tertiary care center. This study was conducted on 100 patients who were consuming alcohol and were divided into two groups based on the duration and amount of alcohol consumed.
Results: The mean age was 50 ± 9.54 years. Raised NLR was seen in patients who consumed heavy amounts of alcohol and in patients who had consumed alcohol for a longer period of time, irrespective of their complications. A significantly raised NLR is seen in patients consuming moderate and heavy amounts of alcohol and in patients consuming alcohol for a longer period with complications.
Conclusion: NLR can be used as a useful marker of disease progression that correlates well with complications like hepatic encephalopathy (HE), ascites, and gastrointestinal bleeding (GI bleed).