Tuğberk BAŞTÜRK, Bora TOROS, İffet Merve UÇAR BAYTAROĞLU, Merve UÇAR TOROS, Atilla Okan KILIÇ, Ziynet ALPHAN ÜÇ, Cevdet DURAN
Health Sciences Quarterly - 2026;6(4):809-819
Systemic inflammatory indices derived from complete blood count have emerged as biomarkers in autoimmune conditions, but their relationship with ultrasonographic thyroid morphology in Graves' disease (GD) remains unexplored. Our goal is to examine associations between inflammatory indices (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio [PLR], systemic inflammatory index [SII], pan-immune-inflammation value [PIV]) and thyroid ultrasonographic parameters in newly diagnosed GD. This cross-sectional study included 66 newly diagnosed GD patients. Thyroid ultrasonography assessed volume, isthmus thickness, homogeneity, and Doppler vascularity. Spearman correlations with FDR correction and linear regression adjusted for age, sex, fT4, fT3, and TSI were performed. Mean age was 45.7 +/- 15.3 years (80.3% female). PLR showed inverse correlation with thyroid volume (rho = -0.346, p = 0.004) but did not survive FDR correction (pFDR = 0.071). In fully adjusted regression (age, sex, fT4, fT3, TSI), NLR was independently associated with isthmus thickness (beta = 0.681, p = 0.0077, pFDR = 0.031). No inflammatory index independently predicted thyroid volume, homogeneity score, or Doppler vascularity score. NLR is independently associated with isthmus thickness in newly diagnosed GD, suggesting a link between neutrophil-mediated systemic inflammation and focal thyroid structural changes at disease onset.
