Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 277 West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi, P.R. China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Jan 12;24(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-05430-3.
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a psychotic disorder with an unknown pathogenesis accompanied by varying degrees of cognitive deficits. Recent studies have shown that immune dysregulation plays an important role in developing symptoms and cognitive deficits in SCZ. This study aimed to determine the complete blood count (CBC), including white blood cells, neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), in patients with SCZ and explore their correlations with SCZ symptom dimensions and cognitive function.
Seventy-four patients with SCZ and 57 age- and sex-matched healthy controls with available demographic and clinical information were recruited for this study. Blood samples were collected, and symptom dimensions and cognitive function were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) separately.
Our results demonstrate that SCZ patients showed higher monocyte counts, PLR, MLR, and worse performance in the total MCCB than healthy controls. Neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and NLR were positively related to symptom severity and negatively related to depressive symptoms. White blood cell (WBC) count, monocyte count, and MLR were positively correlated with cognitive performance in patients with SCZ.
In summary, this study suggests that cognitive deficits and symptom severity in patients were associated with dysregulation of immunity. Moreover, we found that WBC could be used as a marker for symptom severity and cognitive deficits in SCZ and that neutrophils are more closely related to the former and monocytes to the latter. We hope that clinicians will pay more attention to dysregulated immunity in patients with SCZ in the future.
精神分裂症（SCZ）是一种伴有认知功能障碍的精神疾病，其发病机制尚不清楚。最近的研究表明，免疫失调在 SCZ 症状和认知功能障碍的发展中起着重要作用。本研究旨在确定精神分裂症患者的全血细胞计数（CBC），包括白细胞、中性粒细胞、单核细胞、淋巴细胞、血小板、中性粒细胞-淋巴细胞比值（NLR）、血小板-淋巴细胞比值（PLR）和单核细胞-淋巴细胞比值（MLR），并探讨它们与 SCZ 症状维度和认知功能的关系。
本研究纳入了 74 名精神分裂症患者和 57 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者，他们均有可用的人口统计学和临床资料。采集血样，分别采用阳性和阴性综合征量表（PANSS）和精神分裂症认知成套测验（MCCB）评估症状维度和认知功能。
结果表明，精神分裂症患者的单核细胞计数、PLR、MLR 较高，总 MCCB 评分较低。中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞计数以及 NLR 与症状严重程度呈正相关，与抑郁症状呈负相关。白细胞（WBC）计数、单核细胞计数和 MLR 与精神分裂症患者的认知表现呈正相关。
综上所述，本研究表明，患者的认知缺陷和症状严重程度与免疫失调有关。此外，我们发现 WBC 可作为 SCZ 症状严重程度和认知缺陷的标志物，中性粒细胞与前者关系更密切，单核细胞与后者关系更密切。我们希望未来临床医生能更加关注精神分裂症患者的免疫失调。
