Introduction: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing steadily, assuming an epidemic proportion throughout the world. Most of this increased burden will come from developing countries. Studies show an increasing role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of diabetes. Estimation of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) could be a simple, inexpensive marker to stratify at-risk diabetes patients. This study aimed to estimate the NLR and CRP levels as a measure of systemic inflammation in diabetics compared to healthy controls. We also investigated if NLR was lower in diabetics with good glycemic control. 

Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study, conducted in a tertiary hospital on 60 patients with T2DM and 69 healthy controls after voluntary informed consent. Anthropometric parameters, fasting plasma glucose, Lipid profile, CBC, CRP, and HbA1c were measured for all participants. 

Results: The diabetic group showed significantly higher waist circumference(p=0.007) mean TG (p=0.003), VLDL-c (p=0.001), LDL-c (p=0.010), TG/HDL-c (p=0.001), HbA1c (p=0.00001), MPV (p=0.002), NLR (p=0.006), and CRP (p=0.004) values and lower HDL-c values (p=0.039) as compared to the control group. No significant difference was seen in BMI, Waist -Hip ratio, total cholesterol, and total cholesterol/HDL-c values between the two groups. Among the diabetics, only HDL-c (p=0.018) and TG/HDL-c ratio (p=0.049) differed significantly with glycemic control.

Conclusion: Diabetics had higher inflammatory markers (NLR, CRP) as compared to controls. Dyslipidemia (high TG, low HDL-c with high TG/HDL-c) and a higher waist circumference were seen in diabetics. Diabetics with fair control of glycemia (HbA1c < 7%) did not demonstrate lower NLR levels indicating that meticulous glycemic control may not ameliorate the chronic inflammation seen in diabetics until dyslipidemia is corrected. 

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