The Role of Systemic Inflammatory Indices in Predicting Cardiovascular Involvement in Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Background: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive neuromuscular disorder that is characterized by progressive muscle weakness, musculoskeletal limitations, and pulmonary involvement, with cardiomyopathy and cardiovascular complications being a primary cause of morbidity and mortality. With advances in respiratory care, cardiac involvement has become the leading cause of death. There is growing interest in systemic inflammatory indices as potential predictors of cardiovascular involvement. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of inflammatory markers—neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and pan-immune inflammation value (PIV)—in children with DMD and to explore their association with cardiac findings. Methods: In this retrospective study, 25 male patients diagnosed with DMD and 25 age-matched healthy male controls were evaluated between January 2021 and July 2024. Demographic and clinical data, hematologic and biochemical parameters, and inflammatory indices were recorded. Cardiovascular involvement was assessed using electrocardiography (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Group comparisons were performed using independent t-tests, while ROC and Pearson correlation analyses were used for diagnostic performance and associations. Results: Pathological Q waves were the most frequent ECG abnormality (24%), and 16% of patients had echocardiographic abnormalities. While most systemic inflammatory indices (NLR, MLR, SIRI, SII, PIV) did not significantly distinguish cardiovascular involvement, PLR demonstrated a strong positive correlation with Pro-BNP levels (r = 0.86, p < 0.05), suggesting a potential link between systemic inflammation and subclinical cardiac stress. Conclusions: Although the overall diagnostic utility of inflammatory indices in predicting cardiovascular complications in DMD was limited, PLR showed a correlation with Pro-BNP in our cohort. However, given the small sample size and limited number of patients with ventricular dysfunction, this finding should be interpreted with caution. PLR may warrant further investigation as a potential marker of cardiovascular involvement in DMD, but larger prospective studies are needed to validate its clinical significance.