Is there a relationship between the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and bilaterality in patients with coxarthrosis?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and the presence of signs of arthrosis in both hips in patients followed at this medical center. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, retrospective study through the analysis of medical records and database review of patients over 18 years of age with hip arthrosis, followed at the outpatient clinic of this hospital. RESULTS: Regarding the analysis of the Mann-Whitney test to correlate the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and laterality, a bi-lateral test result of p = 0.036 was obtained, thus demonstrating a significant difference between the observed groups. When we analyzed the absolute values of neutrophils and lymphocytes, the authors obtained results of p = 0.14 and p = 0.24. Therefore, it was not possible to observe statistically significant differences between the absolute values in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Considering the interactions between the inflammatory mechanisms in osteoarthritis and the fact that the interaction between neutrophils and lymphocytes has differences in relation to the laterality of the coxarthrosis, it is hypothesized that the inflammatory etiology of unilateral and bilateral osteoarthritis could have different dynamics. However, more in-depth studies with flow cytometry are needed to assess the possible impact of these differences in the inflammatory mechanisms observed in this study.