Comparison of Hematological Inflammatory Indices Between Culture-Positive and Culture-Negative Brucellosis Patients

Background: Brucellosis, a systemic disease, is a common zoonosis that may be endemic in developing countries. Because the gold-standard diagnostic method, culture, is costly and time-consuming, faster and more practical diagnostic procedures are needed. In this context, we aimed to elucidate the predictive potential of simple and inexpensive parameters.Materials and Methods: This study included 156 patients diagnosed with brucellosis who had blood cultures obtained prior to treatment. Patients were categorized according to the presence or absence of Brucella spp. growth in blood cultures. Biochemical and hematological parameters, as well as hematological inflammatory indices, were compared between the groups.Results: Blood cultures were positive in 92 patients (59%). No significant differences were observed among groups in hematological parameters (leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, platelets, hemoglobin) or hematological inflammatory indices (NLR: Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio, PLR: Platelet/Lymphocyte ratio, NPR: Neutrophil/ Platelet ratio, MLR: Monocyte/Lymphocyte ratio, NLPR: Neutrophil/ (Lymphocyte × Platelet) ratio, SII: Neutrophil × Platelet/Lymphocyte ratio, SIRI: Neutrophil × Monocyte/Lymphocyte ratio, AISI: Neutrophil × Platelet × Monocyte/Lymphocyte ratio) confirmed by ROC analysis. Biochemical analyses showed significantly higher alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and C-reactive protein in the culture-positive group compared with culture-negative group.Conclusions: In our study, we were unable to determine the predictive capacity of hematological parameters or hematological inflammatory indices for culture positivity. However, supporting this finding with prospective, multicenter studies with larger sample sizes that exclude confounding factors is necessary to clarify the issue.