Serum C-Reactive Protein, Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio and Uric Acid Levels in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Objective: Recent studies implicate the role of inflammatory responses in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). The purpose of this study was to analyse the levels of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), serum C- reactive protein (CRP) and uric acid levels in CSU patients, and to investigate the relationship between these inflammatory parameters and disease activity. Material and Methods: A total of 100 people, consisting of 50 chronic urticaria patients and 50 healthy controls, who have no systemic disease, inflammatory, infectious or autoimmune disease, malignancy, were included in the study. Results: NLR and serum CRP levels were significantly higher in patients with CSU than in healthy controls (p< 0.001, p< 0.001, respectively). The levels of uric acid did not show a statistically significant difference between CSU patients and controls (p= 0.359). A significant positive correlation was found between NLR and CRP in patients with CSU (p= 0.001, r=0.442).When CSU patients were evaluated according to disease severity, serum CRP levels were significantly higher in patients with severe CSU than in patients with mild- moderate CSU (p=0.038). Conclusion: Several biomarkers have been studied in systemic diseases to determine the inflammatory process ongoing and the relationship between these markers and disease activity has been investigated. It can be concluded that CRP and NLR can be used to assess the inflammatory status in CSU and may be useful parameters during the follow-up of these patients. It is known that NLR and CRP are diagnostic and prognostic markers of cardiovascular diseases. Elevated values of NLR and CRP may demand caution regarding cardiovascular comorbidities that may accompany chronic urticaria.