Evaluation of hematological parameters in children with FMF

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and mean platelet volume (MPV) might be helpful in the diagnosis of subclinical inflammation of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). Clinical, laboratory, and genetic results of the patients who were followed up with the diagnosis of FMF were obtained retrospectively from the hospital files and recorded to standardized form. Age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were included as the control group. Eighty-three of the 143 patients (58.0%) were male and 60 (42.0%) were female. The mean age of our patients was 164.62 ± 51.20 months and the mean age of the control group was 164.92 ± 51.10 months. The mean diagnosis age of our patients was 98.10 ± 49.11 months. The mean follow-up time of the patients was 66.03 ± 36.37 months. 91.60% of our patients had abdominal pain, 78.32% fever, and 28.67% joint pain. The mean NLR of the patients was significantly higher than the mean levels at attack-free period and the control group. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the mean levels at attack-free period and the control group. MPV levels were statistically significantly high during acute attack when compared with the control group. However, they showed no statistically significant difference between acute attack and attack-free period. NLR is a useful marker to predict inflammation in FMF patients. However, our results did not support the idea that MPV might reflect acute attack and attack-free period.