Table 1 Characteristics of all diabetic patients and divided into tertiles of the neutrophyl-to-lymphocyte ratio

Age (years)

60.0 (9.6)

60.0 (9.4)

59.0 (9.4)

61.0 (9.8)

Male sex (%)

39.2

34.5

37.8

45.2

BMI (kg/m²)

29.7 (4.8)

30.1 (4.8)

30.1 (4.9)

29.0 (4.8)‡

Smoking, current/past (%)

45.1

43.2

39.7

52.2‡

Physical activity (%)

22.2

24.0

19.2

23.5

Diabetes duration (years)

8 (3–15)

7 (3–14)

7 (3–14.5)

9 (4–17)

Chronic diabetic complications (%)

 Cerebrovascular disease

9.2

8.7

11.4

7.4

 Coronary artery disease

15.1

14.8

11.8

18.7

 Peripheral artery disease

16.9

16.6

14.0

20.1

 Retinopathy

32.3

31.8

31.5

33.6

 Nephropathy

31.6

28.1

29.3

37.4

 Peripheral neuropathy

29.1

30.1

25.1

31.9

 Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy

24.7

20.6

26.5

27.0

Diabetes treatment (%)

 Metformin

87.9

88.2

88.6

87.0

 Sulfonylureas

43.0

40.6

45.0

43.5

 Insulin

48.1

48.0

48.9

47.4

 Aspirin

89.6

88.2

88.3

92.2

 Dyslipidemia (%)

87.1

86.5

86.0

88.7

 Statins use (%)

77.0

75.0

73.4

82.5‡

Arterial hypertension (%)

86.6

86.5

86.0

88.7

Number of anti-hypertensive drugs

3 (1–3)

3 (1–3)

2 (1–3)

3 (2–4)

Blood pressures (mmHg)

 Mean clinic SBP

140 (19)

140 (19)

140 (20)

141 (19)

 Mean clinic DBP

79 (11)

79 (11)

80 (11)

79 (10)

Hematological parameters

 Haemoglobin (g/dl)

13.7 (1.5)

13.6 (1.5)

13.7 (1.5)

13.6 (1.6)

 RDW (%)

13.1 (1.3)

13.0 (1.5)

13.0 (1.3)

13.2 (1.4)

 Leukocytes (× 10³ cells/mm³)

7.4 (2.1)

6.7 (2.0)

7.3 (2.0)†

8.1 (2.1)*

 Neutrophyls (× 10³ cells/mm³)

4.3 (1.6)

3.2 (1.1)

4.2 (1.1)*

5.4 (1.6)*

 Lymphocytes (× 10³ cells/mm³)

2.2 (0.8)

2.7 (0.9)

2.3 (0.7)*

1.8 (0.5)*

 Monocytes (cells/mm³)

500 (185)

473 (183)

497 (171)

528 (197)†

 Platelets (× 10³ cells/mm³)

244 (74)

250 (83)

243 (65)

241 (74)

 Lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio

5.0 (2.4)

6.4 (2.8)

4.9 (1.7)*

3.8 (1.8)*

 Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio

118.2 (46.3)

98.4 (35.8)

113.5 (35.7)*

142.6 (52.4)*

 Monocyte-to-HDL ratio

12.7 (6.3)

12.0 (5.9)

12.7 (6.5)

13.3 (6.5)

Laboratory variables

 Mean HbA_1c (%)

7.7 (1.6)

7.7 (1.6)

7.6 (1.5)

7.7 (1.6)

 (mmol/mol)

61 (11.6)

61 (11.6)

60 (10.5)

61 (11.6)

 Mean triacylglycerol (mmol/L)

1.55 (1.08–2.22)

1.60 (1.14–2.29)

1.59 (1.12–2.30)

1.43 (1.00–2.07)

 Mean HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)

1.14 (0.44)

1.14 (0.28)

1.11 (0.28)

1.16 (0.65)

 Mean LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)

2.77 (0.85)

2.84 (0.83)

2.79 (0.88)

2.74 (0.85)

 C-reactive protein (CRP) mg/L

2.9 (1.2–6.2)

2.7 (0.9–6.1)

3.1 (1.5–6.3)

2.8 (1.3–6.5)

 Glomerular filtration rate (ml/min/1.73 m²)

81 (20)

82 (19)

83 (21)

79 (21)

 Albuminuria (mg/24 h)

13 (7–41)

14 (7–32)

13 (7–39)

15 (7–52)

Macrovascular outcomes^a

 Total CV events

212 (35.2)

62 (29.9)

61 (29.9)

89 (46.7)†

 Major CV events

174 (27.8)

56 (26.5)

45 (21.2)

73 (36.3)†

 Cardiovascular mortality

131 (20.1)

44 (19.9)

30 (13.6)

57 (27.3)†

 All-cause mortality

264 (40.5)

80 (36.2)

78 (35.2)

106 (50.7)†

Microvascular outcomes^b

 Retinopathy (incident/worsening) (n = 551)

161 (50.7)

51 (49.5)

56 (53.2)

54 (49.4)

 Renal composite

206 (37.7)

67 (36.1)

63 (33.3)

76 (44.4)

 Microalbuminuria (incident)

127 (25.6)

43 (25.4)

35 (20.4)

49 (31.4)

 Renal failure

104 (17.0)

29 (14.0)

34 (16.4)

41 (21.0)

 Peripheral neuropathy (incident/worsening) (n = 525)

179 (34.1%)

51 (28.5%)

65 (36.9%)

63 (37.1%)