The predictivity of hematological parameters and related inflammatory biomarkers of male subjects with chronic polysubstance use disorder

Background

Polysubstance use disorder (PSUD) is a chronic disease with adverse clinical outcomes. Hematological properties and related inflammatory biomarkers have not been investigated in PSUD. This study aimed to investigate the alterations in hematologic and related inflammatory parameters among subjects with PSUD.

Methods

A total of sixty subjects were included, thirty chronic PSUD subjects and thirty control subjects. Venous blood was withdrawn from participants, and complete blood count was conducted. Related inflammatory biomarkers were calculated, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR), derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), and systemic inflammation index (SII).

Results

Between study groups, we reported significant differences in red cell count, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (P < 0.001). As compared to control subjects, PSUD subjects had significantly higher neutrophil counts that coincided with significantly lower monocyte counts (P < 0.001). These findings corresponded to significantly higher NLR (2.88 ± 0.21 vs. 1.92 ± 0.13), dNLR (2.39 ± 0.97 vs.1.43 ± 0.08), NMR (35.1 ± 4.8 vs.8.3 ± 0.5), LMR (13.3 ± 1.7 vs. 4.6 ± 0.3) and SII (683.0 ± 56.9 vs. 424.3 ± 30.2) among PSUD subjects (P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed areas under the curves for NMR, LMR, dNLR, NLR, and SII of 0.983, 0.829, 0.811, 0.766, and 0.779, respectively (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Chronic PSUD alters erythrocyte indices that define mild erythrocytic hyperchromasia and may suggest membrane damage. Furthermore, higher hematological inflammatory biomarkers imply the contribution of systemic inflammation in the pathophysiology of PSUD and suggest their diagnostic predictivity of the disease.