A Study of Circulating White Blood Cell in Metabolic Syndrome Patients

Abstract

Background: Metabolic syndrome(MeS), a worldwide public health problem that affects human health and quality of life. There is growing evidence indicating a role of chronic low-grade inflammation as a pathogenetic event of MeS. 

Objective: The aim of this study was to asses white blood cells(WBC) count in patients with MeS, as well as determining the association with components of the syndrome. 

Patients and Methods: An Analytic case-control study included all patients older than 18 years who refereed to Endocrinology Clinic at Lattakia Hospital during the period one year (2023-2024). Presence of MeS was detected according to NCEP ATPIII criteria, with comparing the levels of WBC and their subtypes according to presence of syndrome.  

Results: A total of 219 patients, 80 males (36.5%) and 139 females (63.5%) with mean age 49.37± 12.78 years were included in the study. MeS was detected in 100 cases (45.7%) with comparing demographic and laboratory variables between patients according to presence of syndrome. Mean values of WBC, neutrophils, lymphocytes were significantly higher in patients with syndrome; (7857±1107.9 versus 6683.27±1419, p:0.0001), (4716.79±1037.9 versus 4000.25±1147.7, p:0.0001) and (2495.48±553.2 versus  2149.72±582.6, p:0.0001) respectively. Obesity was detected in 24.7% of patients with MeS versus 10.5% of the other group. Mean values of WBC, neutrophils, lymphocytes were significantly higher in patients with MeS in presence of obesity compared to other groups(p<0.05). In addition to, there was significant positive correlation between values of  WBC, neutrophils, lymphocytes and each of triglyceride, waist circumference, and body mass index(p<0.05).

Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that elevated level of  WBC is a predictive biomarker for metabolic syndrome, and obesity is associated with increasing inflammatory event. When the peak WBC reached 6850, progressive of syndrome could be predicted with an area under the ROC curve of 0.73(95% CI:0.67-0.80) with sensitivity 77% and specificity 57.1%.