Diabetes control could through platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in hemograms

OBJECTIVE: Association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and inflammation is well-established. We aimed to study platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), a novel inflammatory index derived from hemogram, in diabetic patients in comparison to those in healthy volunteers. METHODS: Medical data of type 2 diabetics that showed up in general outpatient medical clinics of our institution between February 2017 and August 2017 were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: Median PLR of type 2 diabetic patients was significantly higher than the PLR of healthy controls (p=0.001). Moreover, PLR was significantly and positively correlated with HbA1c (p<0.001, r=0.58), fasting plasma glucose (p<0.001, r=0.49), and c-reactive protein (p=0.003, r=0.30) levels. Type 2 diabetic subjects with proteinuria had significantly higher PLR levels than that of diabetic subjects without proteinuria. CONCLUSION: As an inexpensive and easy to use index, PLR may be useful in predicting the development and control levels of type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, its correlation with HbA1c needs to be validated by larger prospective studies.