Association of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio with antipsychotic administration in schizophrenia: A longitudinal study.

Background: Studies have hypothesized the role of the immune-inflammatory process behind the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. Antipsychotic medication has been shown to suppress inflammatory response via complex mechanisms alleviating psychiatric symptoms.

Aim: To assess the relation of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) with antipsychotic administration and clinical symptomatology severity.

Materials and methods: A longitudinal study was performed among 34 inpatients who fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sociodemographic details were collected, and the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) was applied during admission. Blood sampling was performed during baseline and at discharge for the NLR ratio (neutrophil count/lymphocyte count) with the application of BPRS.

Results: The mean ± SD age of the population was 38.91 ± 11.44 years, with male gender predominance (N = 25, 73.5%). The median duration of illness and duration of treatment were 10 months and 40 days, respectively. Twelve (35.3%) subjects were antipsychotic naïve. The mean ± SD of BPRS and NLR during admission was 49.94 ± 5.33 and 2.49 ± 0.92 and during discharge was 26.76 ± 6.04 and 2.08 ± 0.72, respectively.

Conclusion: The results confirmed the NLR-lowering effect of antipsychotics alongside lowering of clinical symptomatology. NLR has the potential to be a biomarker indicating antipsychotic treatment response.