Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, mean platelet volume and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in Behçet’s disease and their correlation with disease activity: A meta-analysis

Aim: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between mean platelet volume (MPV), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and Behçet’s disease (BD). Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases, and performed a meta-analysis to compare MPV, NLR, and PLR between patients with BD and healthy controls, and to evaluate these parameters in BD according to disease activity and thrombosis. Results: In total, 14 studies were included. MPV was not higher in the BD group than in the control group (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0163; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.125 to 0.451; P = 0.268), while NLR was significantly higher in the BD group than in the control group (SMD, 1.176; 95% CI, 0.392-1.960, P = 0.003) and PLR showed a non-significant trend of association with BD (SMD, 0.441; 95% CI, −0.025 to 0.907, P = 0.063). MPV did not differ between patients with active and inactive BD (SMD, −0.129; 95% CI, −0.323 to 0.085, P = 0.191), and between patients with BD with and without thrombosis (SMD, 0.231; 95% CI, −0.155 to 0.617, P = 0.241). Conversely, NLR was significantly higher in patients with active BD than in those with inactive BD (SMD, 1.774; 95% CI, 0.179-3.368, P = 0.029), but not significantly higher in patients with BD with thrombosis than in those without thrombosis (SMD, 0.258; 95% CI, −0.277 to 0.792, P = 0.345). Conclusions: This finding suggests that NLR may be a potential index to evaluate the disease activity of BD, although there are limitations of small number of studies and heterogeneity of individual characteristics.