engleski

WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT IS RELATED TO BLOOD PRESSURE VALUES ONLY IN ADVANCED HYPERTENSION

Objective: The question whether inflammation is an initial event in hypertension or rather a consequence of endothelial damage is still opened, as well as whether white blood cell count (WBC) could be a marker of it. Our aim was to analyze the relation between WBC and blood pressure (BP) in our group of 1375 subjects (587 men and 788 women). Design and Method: After an extended questionnaire and clinical exam BP was measured following the ESH/ESC guidelines and subjects were classified in groups with optimal BP (OBP), normal BP (NBP), high normal BP (HNBP), stage1, 2, 3 and isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). Fasting blood was drawn and WBC count, number of neutrophils, lymphocytes and other WBC were determined. Subjects treated with anti- inflammatory drugs and antibiotics were excluded. Results: In our group OBP, NBP, HNBP, strage1, 2, 3 and ISH were diagnosed in 16.2%, 12.6%, 11.1%, 12.9%, 9.4%, 5.9% and 21.2% subjects, respectively. BP categories were significantly related to the WBC count (x2 = 14, 2 ; p = 0, 027). Significant differences inWBC were observed between stage 3 vs. OB, NBP and HNBP (p = 0.008, 0.002, 0.001, respectively) and stage 2 vs. HNBP (p = 0.01). Similar results were observed with neutrophils (x2 = 18, 1 ; p = 0, 006), and again significant differences between stage 3 vs. OB, NBP, HNBP (p<0.01) were determined. There were no differences in lymphocytes and other WBC between BP categories (p>0.05). Interestingly, we failed to find differences in WBC count and neutrophiles between OBP vs. NBP vs. HNBP (p>0.05). Conclusions: WBC, i.e. neutrophiles are related to BP values only in advanced phases of hypertension. We failed to find differences in WBC between subjects with OBP and HNBP what could lead to the conclusion that inflammation is not a characteristic of prehypertension, but also, it might be that WBC is not a sufficiently sensitive biomarker.

white blood cells; hypertension

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