Background: Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection results in multiple complications, and its chronic form was defined as the most prominent risk factor for gastric cancer.
Objectives: evaluation of the association between HP infection and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and its ability to identify patients with complicated or failed infection eradication. The study aimed to assess the performance of NLR for distinguishing patients with complicated or failed infection eradication
Patients and methods: 135 patients with complaints suggestive of HP infection underwent endoscopic examination and biopsy taking, and HP diagnostic tests, and blood samples were obtained for complete blood count to calculate the NLR and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR). Patients with positive HP diagnosis and no history of treatment and patients with HP infection who received treatment were grouped as S1 and S2 groups, and the C-group included patients with negative diagnosis and endoscopy.
Results: The NLR and PLR were significantly (P < 0.001) higher in patients than controls. Further, NLR, HP-IgG titer, and PLR are the highly significant predictors for positive endoscopy (P < 0.001, 0.001, and 0.002, respectively), and high NLR, total leucocytic count, and PLR as the highly significant predictors for infection eradication failure (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and 0.001, respectively).
Conclusion: Hematological inflammatory markers are practical and easily obtainable parameters related to HP infection. The NLR is pertinent to developing HP infection-induced complications and may be a useful identifier for cases with failed eradication.