Comparison of the intensity of peripheral inflammation between major depressive disorder and bipolar depression by means of neutrophil-lymphocyte and plateletlymphocyte ratios: The possible role of clinical severity and psychotic features

Year 2022, , 100 - 106, 31.01.2022

Necati Serkut Bulut Nese Yorguner

https://doi.org/10.5472/marumj.1065834

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to compare the intensity of inflammation between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar
disorder-depressive episode (BD-D) by using neutrophil to lymphocyte (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratios (PLR) as nonspecific
markers for peripheral immune response, and to investigate whether and how these parameters correlate with the clinical
characteristics of the depressive episodes within and between the diagnoses.
Patients and Methods: The medical records of 209 psychiatric inpatients (126 diagnosed with MDD, 83 with BD-D) and 150 healthy
controls (HC) were retrospectively screened to obtain NLR and PLR values.
Results: Both MDD and BD-D presented with significantly elevated NLR and PLR compared to HC, with the increase being associated
with the severity of depression but not with the presence of psychotic features. The severity of inflammation was found to be of a
comparable magnitude between the two conditions, or at least indistinguishable by means of the NLR and PLR.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that both MDD and BD-D involve a presumably complex inflammatory process resulting in an
observable, albeit nonspecific alteration in the distribution of peripheric blood cells. Moreover, the magnitude of the observed immune
response appears to relate to the severity of the depressive episode for both conditions.

Keywords

Major depressive disorder, Bipolar disorder, Inflammation, Immune dysregulation, Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, Plateletlymphocyte ratio

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