Relationship between neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and post-traumatic stress disorder in early stage after acute trauma / 中华急诊医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the changes in inflammatory markers levels and the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the early stage of acute trauma..Methods:From January 2018 to June 2020, patients with acute trauma who were admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University were selected as subjects. Peripheral venous blood was collected on admission, on the 3rd and 7th day after trauma for routine blood test, C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was calculated. The PCL-5 scale was used to evaluate PTSD symptoms one month later. The patients were divided into the PTSD group and non-PTSD group with the score of 38 as the boundary. The change rule of NLR in the PTSD group and the non-PTSD group were analyzed.Results:Ninety-one trauma patients were enrolled, including 23 patients in the PTSD group and 68 patients in the non-PTSD group. Compared with the healthy control group, the NLR of 91 trauma patients on admission, on the 3rd and 7th day were significantly higher (all P< 0.01). The NLR of the PTSD group was increased on the 7th day after trauma, which was significantly higher than that of the non-PTSD group ( P= 0.025). The non-PTSD group showed a decreasing trend, of which NLR on the 7th day was significantly lower than that on admission ( P= 0.001). In addition, high level of NLR on the 7th day after trauma (β= 0.206, P= 0.01) was a risk factor for PTSD onset. Conclusions:Dynamic monitoring of the changes in NLR after acute trauma would be of great clinical value to early warning of PTSD.