Systemic inflammatory indices as biomarkers in adolescents with methamphetamine use disorder: a case–control study

BACKGROUND: Despite the rising prevalence of methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) among adolescents and its severe consequences, data on hematological inflammatory indices in this population remain limited. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate systemic inflammatory markers in adolescents with MUD and their associations with addiction severity. METHODS: The retrospective case-control study included 44 adolescents with MUD and 44 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Hematological indices were calculated from complete blood count data, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR (dNLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), Basophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (BLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), and aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI). Group comparisons, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, and partial correlations were performed. RESULTS: < .05). ROC analyses revealed good discriminative ability for SII (AUC = 0.79), AISI (AUC = 0.73), and SIRI (AUC = 0.69). Several indices, including NLR, PLR, and SII, correlated negatively with treatment motivation, while PLR and MLR correlated positively with diagnostic severity. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with MUD demonstrate marked systemic inflammatory alterations detectable through routine hematological indices. These markers may serve as low-cost, clinically accessible biomarkers for identifying high-risk individuals and monitoring disease severity, with implications for early intervention and personalized treatment.