BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pneumoconiosis occurs as a result of an inflammatory response. Despite precautions, it continues to be an important public health issue worldwide. Monitoring prognosis in pneumoconiosis is particularly important because no effective disease‑modifying treatment currently exists. In recent years, hemogram parameters have been increasingly investigated as prognostic indicators across various diseases. This study aimed to compare hemogram parameters between patients with pneumoconiosis and workers with similar occupational exposure who had not been diagnosed with pneumoconiosis.


METHODS: A total of 207 patients with pneumoconiosis and 193 controls were included in the study. Collected data included demographic characteristics, occupational history, hemogram parameters, neutrophil‑to‑lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet‑to‑lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immune‑inflammation index (SII), and radiological imaging findings.


RESULTS: Lymphocyte (Lym), hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean platelet volume (MPV) levels were found to be significantly lower, whereas white blood cell (WBC) count, red cell distribution width (RDW), platelet count (PLT), platelet distribution width (PDW), NLR, PLR, and SII levels were significantly higher in the pneumoconiosis group compared to the control group. Statistically significant differences were also observed in WBC, neutrophil (Neu), Lym, PLT, NLR, PLR, and SII levels across different International Labour Organization (ILO) profusion categories and large opacity sizes. When a cut‑off value of 2.4 was applied for NLR among pneumoconiosis cases, the presence of complicated pneumoconiosis was 3.8‑fold more prevalent (p<0.001). Similarly, using a PLR cut‑off value of 131.2, the likelihood of complicated pneumoconiosis increased 3.0‑fold (p=0.002). In addition, applying an SII cut‑off value of 522.06 resulted in a 3.6‑fold higher detection rate of complicated pneumoconiosis (p=0.001).


CONCLUSIONS: Pneumoconiosis may continue to progress even after exposure has ended. In addition to radiological imaging and pulmonary function tests, routine monitoring of hemogram‑derived inflammatory markers such as NLR, PLR, and SII could provide important prognostic insights. These parameters could serve as accessible, cost‑effective indicators to support clinical follow‑up in affected individuals.