Inflammation may be correlated with Symptomatic Neurosyphilis

Abstract Background A retrospective study was performed to compare the differences in clinical and laboratory features of asymptomatic neurosyphilis (ANS) and symptomatic neurosyphilis. Methods One hundred and four eligible patients were enrolled from the beijing ditan hospital between February 2017 and June 2018, including 35 ANS and 69 symptomatic neurosyphilis. The clinical data was analyzed retrospectively, including age, sex, treatment history, serum Alb, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), CRP, RPR, rapid plasma reagin(RPR), as well as CSF RPR, CSF Alb, CSF WBCs, and CSF protein. Results Of the one hundred and four inpatients, there were significant differences in age, male, serum RPR, CSF protein, NLR, PLR, CSF-Alb /S-Alb and CRP between the two groups. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that CSF protein (OR 1.07, 95%CI 1.024-1.118, P=0.002) , serum RPR (OR 1.035, 95%CI 1.001-1.059, P=0.003) and NLR (OR 2.568, 95% CI 1.226-5.376, P=0.012) were independent risk predictors for symptomatic neurosyphilis. Female (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.025-0.490 , P=0.004) was protective factor for symptomatic neurosyphilis. Conclusions Male gender, serum RPR, CSF protein and NLR were risk factors for symptomatic neurosyphilis. They may indicate the development and aggravation of neurosyphilis Moreover, the ROC showed that NLR ≥ 3.348 could better predict the development of symptomatic neurosyphilis. Inflammation was significantly correlated with the development of neurosyphilis at discharge.