Is there any correlation between red cell distribution width, mean platelet volume neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, and psoriasis area severity index in patients under treatment for psoriasis?

Abstract

Psoriasis vulgaris is a well-known systemic inflammatory disease accompanied by many cardiac, renal, and metabolic manifestations. In recent years, hematological parameters have been studied in different systemic diseases as markers for inflammation. In this study, we investigated the possible association between the hematological parameters, namely neutrophil-to-lym-phocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), red cell distribution width (RDW), and Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores, in patients under treatment for psoriasis. Forty-five patients with moderate to severe psoriasis and PASI values of 7 or greater were included in the study. Patients with other inflammatory diseases were excluded. All the patients were treated according to the severity of the disease. Hematological parameters and PASI were examined at baseline and at month 3, 6, 9, and 12. Twenty-seven patients (60%) were women, and the mean age was 42.2 years. No statistically significant association was found between PASI values and NLR, PLR, or RDW at months 0 and 12. The mean platelet volumes increased only at month 3, and lymphocyte counts increased significantly at all months. However, platelet counts decreased significantly only at month 6, 9, and 12, while RDW decreased significantly only at month 3. All the remaining parameters such as: neutrophils count, lymphocyte count, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased significantly. The decrease in RDW and the increase in the mean platelet volume accompanied by a decrease in PASI values may represent contributing prognostic hematologic parameters to predict clinical progress and treatment response of patients with moderate-severe psoriasis during the first 3 months of treatment.