Elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios are associated with increased flares and elevated cardiovascular disease risk in gout

Objective Although gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis, there are few tools to monitor disease activity and predict complications in gout patients. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) are associated with disease activity in various diseases and the NLR has been shown to predict coronary artery disease severity, a common comorbid condition with gout. Thus, we evaluated the use of NLR and MLR as novel biomarkers to measure disease activity and predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in gout patients.