Metabolic syndrome (MetS) as a cluster of several cardio-metabolic components is rapidly growing public-health problem worldwide and significantly associated with poor cardiovascular outcomes. Increased visceral adiposity activates the important pathways connecting low-grade chronic inflammation, oxidative stress and blood coagulation. Recently, platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has been evidenced as a novel indirect inflammatory marker. Therefore, for the first time, we aimed to investigate the association of PLR with both the presence and severity of MetS. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 1146 participants were enrolled (n = 539 with MetS and n = 607 without MetS). MetS was defined according to NCEP-ATP III criteria. MetS (+) group revealed significantly higher PLR and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as compared to MetS (-) group (p < 0.05). There was a graded relationship between increasing number of MetS components and PLR (p < 0.05). Also, PLR was positively correlated with CRP level (r = 0.163, p < 0.001). In multivariate regression analysis, PLR [1.121 (1.113-1.135), p < 0.001], CRP [1.044 (1.029-1.060), p < 0.001], and age [1.030 (1.017-1.043), p < 0.001] were remained as independent predictors for the presence of MetS. In conclusion, our findings showed that increased PLR was significantly associated with both the presence and severity of MetS which was linked to systemic inflammation based on the correlation between PLR and CRP. As PLR is an easily available, simple and cheap indirect indicator of inflammation, it can be used in clinical practice as a predictor of MetS.
Keywords: C-reactive protein; inflammation; metabolic syndrome; platelet to lymphocyte ratio.