  Aim: There is increasing interest in the role of chronic inflammation on
pathogenesis of various disease, and one of its markers, high NLR is associated
with various mortality and morbidity risk. Insulin resistance (IR) might be one
potential associate factors, as suggested in preclinical studies. However,
epidemiological studies are scarce which investigated the association between
NLR, and insulin resistance (IR) and they included only diabetes mellitus
patients, not the general population. This study aims to determine if there is
a direct correlation between NLR and IR in the US general population. Methods:
The sample consists of 3,307 from general population, provided by National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Homeostasis Model Assessment
of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) value was calculated to evaluate insulin
resistance. We investigated the relationship between their NLR and HOMA-IR
values by bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses. As insulin use
could results in inaccurate HOMA-IR estimation, we excluded them and ran the
analyses in subgroup analyses. Results: There was a relationship shown when
insulin users were included, having a beta coefficient value of 0.010 (95%
confidence interval [CI] of 0.003-0.017). However, when insulin users were
excluded, the beta value decreased to 0.004 (95% CI of -0.006-0.015). The
statistical significance was not reached when age, sex, and body mass index
were adjusted for in the multivariate analyses. Conclusion: There is no visible
relationship between IR and NLR in the general population. IR might not explain
the variation of NLR value in healthy people, and further studies are needed to
reveal the associated factor of high NLR.
