The Use of New Hematological Markers in the Diagnosis of Alopecia Areata

Citation: Aksoy Sarac G, Acar O, Nayir T, Hararcı Yıldırım P, Dinçer Rota D. The Use of New Hematological Markers in the Diagnosis of Alopecia Areata. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023;13(2):e2023118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1302a118

Accepted: November 16, 2022; Published: April 2023

Copyright: ©2023 Aksoy Sarac et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

Funding: None.

Competing interests: None.

Authorship: All authors have contributed significantly to this publication.

Corresponding author: Onur Acar, MD, Ağrı Provincial Health Directorate, Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Health, Ağrı, Turkey. Tel: +90 5062341595 ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3561-3192 Email: dronuracar@yandex.com

Abstract

Introduction:  Alopecia areata (AA) is a non-cicatricial inflammatory and autoimmune hair loss disease. In recent studies, it has been reported that hematological parameters can be used as oxidative stress markers in the diagnosis of many inflammatory diseases due to their low cost and widespread use.

Objectives: In this study, it was aimed to reveal the significant cut-off points of hematological inflammatory markers in AA that can guide clinicians in clinical practice and determine how many times they increase the risk of disease.

Methods: The present study is retrospective case-control type. Seventy patients with AA and seventy healthy controls were included in the study. The hematological parameters in both groups were evaluated retrospectively.

Results: Hemoglobulin, monocyte, platelet, monocyte high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio (MHR), monocyte lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were high in patients with AA, while the number of lymphocytes was low.  In ROC analysis, the optimal cut-off values for the diagnosis of AA were as follows: MLR 0.216, MHR 0.010, and PLR 111.715. In regression analysis, being above the following values of MLR 0.216, MHR 0.010, and PLR 111.715 increased the risk of developing AA by 6.3, 3.8, and 2.7 times, respectively.

Conclusions: It was seen that MHR and PLR, especially MLR, can significantly increase the risk of developing the disease in AA and can also be used as diagnostic markers.

Keywords : Alopecia areata, Monocyte lymphocyte ratio (MLR), ROC analysis, Marker

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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