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Thromb Haemost 1985; 54(03): 700-703
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1660101
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

White Blood Cell Count and Haematocrit as Predictors of Coronary Recurrence after Myocardial Infarction

G D O Lowe
The University Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK and the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, USA
,
S G Machado
The University Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK and the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, USA
,
W F Krol
The University Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK and the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, USA
,
B A Barton
The University Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK and the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, USA
,
C D Forbes
The University Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK and the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, USA
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 11 March 1985

Accepted 22 August 1985

Publication Date:
19 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

Baseline white blood cell count (WCC) and haematocrit were examined in relation to recurrent coronary events and to all-cause mortality in 2026 persons enrolled in the first Persantin-Aspirin Reinfarction Study (PARIS-1) 2-60 months after myocardial infarction. WCC was strongly related to coronary recurrence (relative risk 3.5 for men with WCC ≥ 9 × 109/1 vs men with WCC < 5 × 109/1) and total mortality (relative risk 2.6). No such relationships were found for haematocrit. WCC correlated also with cigarette-smoking, diuretic use, serum cholesterol and uric acid; however, the associations with coronary recurrence and total mortality persisted on multiple linear and logistic regression analysis including these variables and treatment group (p <0.001). WCC is therefore an easily-measured prognostic variable in survivors of myocardial infarction. Furthermore, we suggest that white blood cells may promote myocardial ischaemia by capillary plugging and/or release of toxic oxygen metabolites.

Keywords

White cell count - Haematocrit - Myocardial infarction
 

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