The relationship of the presence of dry eye in rheumatoid arthritis cases with the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio and average platelet volume

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship of the presence of dry eye in rheumatoid arthritis cases with neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and average platelet volume (MPV). Materials and Methods: This study was carried out by evaluating the eye examination findings and blood tests of patients who were treated for rheumatoid arthritis who applied to the ophthalmology outpatient clinic between July 2021 and May 2022 to investigate whether they had eye involvement due to rheumatoid arthritis. Ocular surface disease index (OSDI), Schirmer test, tear break-up time (TBUT), Oxford scoring evaluations were performed to evaluate dry eye in patients. In addition, NLR, PLR and MPV values were calculated from the results of the patients' blood tests. Obtained results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: 74 eyes of 37 patients were included in the study. In correlation tests, there was a significant negative correlation (p<0.001) between NLR and OSDI score, and a significant positive correlation between NLR and TBUT (p=0.001), but no statistically significant relationship was found between NLR and Schirmer test results (p=0.283). Similarly, there was a significant negative correlation (p<0.001) between PLR and OSDI score, and a significant positive correlation between PLR and TBUT (p=0.049), but no statistically significant relationship was found between PLR and Schirmer test results (p=0.366). On the other hand, no significant correlation was found with MPV values when compared with Schirmer, OSDI score and TBUT (respectively; p=0.575, p=0.521, p=0.554). Conclusion: It was observed that various tests that determined the presence of dry eye in rheumatoid arthritis cases in the study did not show a significant correlation with NLR, PLR and MPV values. This may be due to the fact that the participant patients received systemic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, further studies in patients who do not receive systemic treatment in this subject may yield more accurate results.