Associations between complete-blood-count-derived inflammatory markers and gastric ulcer: A cross-sectional study
Qi Shen, Zhonghua Sun, Yifan Xu, Qibo Hu, Wenhong Zhang, Shen-An Huang
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gastric ulcer (GU), a common gastrointestinal condition, is influenced by multiple factors, particularly inflammatory and immune responses. Complete blood count (CBC)-derived inflammatory biomarkers represent a novel indicator of systemic inflammation and immune status; however, their association with GU remains unclear. AIM To investigate the association between CBC-derived inflammatory markers and GU. METHODS The study sample included individuals admitted to the Gastroenterology Unit of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from 2023 to 2024. We explored how each CBC-based inflammation indicator correlated with GU occurrence through logistic models, and assessed their predictive ability using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Additionally, we applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method along with stepwise regression techniques to determine which inflammatory indicators were most significantly linked to GU. RESULTS Higher levels of log2 neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, log2 monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, log2 systemic immune-inflammation index, log2 systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), and log2 aggregate index of systemic inflammation were significantly associated with increased GU prevalence across all models, while log2 platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio was significant only in the fully adjusted model. SIRI demonstrated the highest discriminative ability, with an area under the curve of 0.868. CONCLUSION Hematological indicators derived from CBC tests show a significant correlation with the prevalence of GU. Among them, SIRI demonstrated the most prominent association. These markers could act as practical tools in recognizing individuals more likely to develop GU.