Evaluation of the Role of Inflammation in Specific Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Objectives: Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is a disorder in which academic abilities are incompatible with age and intelligence, and whose etiology is not fully elucidated.The aims of this study were to investigate the role of inflammation in the etiopathogenesis of SLD and to examine whether inflammation parameters were useful biomarkers for detecting SLD. Materials and Methods:Data of 31 patients between the ages of 7 and 14 years, who were followed-up with the diagnosis of SLD from the pediatric psychiatry outpatient clinic and whose hemogram test results were available, and 33 healthy controls in the same age range, with hemogram test results, were retrospectively analyzed.Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) values were calculated from hemogram tests.In addition to these values, blood neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet, erythrocyte counts, and hemoglobin values were compared between the two groups.Results: NLR, neutrophil and lymphocyte values were found to be significantly higher in children with SLD than in healthy controls (p=0.001;p=0.033; p=0.030, respectively).Hemoglobin, erythrocyte, platelet and PLR values did not differ significantly between the two groups.Although the NLR values were significantly different between the groups, NLR did not have a significant effect on the determination of being SLD. Conclusion:Although the findings show that NLR does not have an effect on SLD, inflammatory markers such as NLR and PLR may also be involved in the etiology of SLD and follow-up studies with larger samples are needed in this area.

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