Background: The progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) toward the need for hemodialysis can be predicted by the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), NLR in hemodialysis patients may be predicted by their serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels. This study aimed to diagnose inflammation as early as possible among hemodialysis patients.

Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 80 selected CKD patients from the nephrology units at Hehia Central Hospital and internal medicine department at Zagazig University Hospital. Subgroup analyses comparing the mean 25-hydroxy vitamin D (VD) levels and NLR between men and women, patients with and without the hypertensive disease (HTN), and patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

Results: Mean level of Vitamin D was significantly higher in males than females with p value=0.001, however, a significantly higher NLR was found in females than in males with p value=0.001, Vit D level was significantly correlated with inflammatory markers (neutrophils, lymphocytes, as well as NLR with p value=0.001 for each), we found clinical and statistically significant prediction of NLR by Vit D with p value=0.001.

Conclusion: We showed a significant inverse correlation between serum vitamin D levels and the NLR values, which are inexpensive and broadly available inflammation markers. Our regression analyses indicate a significant relationship between these inflammatory markers and vit D levels level.