Background
Previous studies have demonstrated that elevated cholesterol results in increased
white blood cell counts in mouse models. However, there is insufficient evidence to
support this in humans.
Objective
The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship of plasma lipids with
white blood cell counts (basophils, eosinophils, monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes)
in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
Methods
The analysis included 2873 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants with a
complete white blood count and differential analysis. The cross-sectional association
of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein
cholesterol, and triglyceride levels with different white blood cell counts was analyzed
by multivariable linear regression.
Results
After adjusting for sociodemographic and confounding factors including red blood cell
counts, platelet counts, use of lipid-lowering medication, cardiovascular disease
risk factors and other lipid measures, and multiple testing correction, a one–standard
deviation increment in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was
associated with 2.8% and 2.3% lower total white blood cell counts, 3.7% and 3.0% lower
monocyte counts, and 3.4% and 2.7% lower neutrophil counts (all P < .01). The same increment in logarithm-transformed triglyceride levels was associated
with 2.3% higher total white blood cell counts and 4.5% higher lymphocyte counts (both
P < .001). Similar results were obtained after excluding participants taking lipid-lowering
medication. A one–standard deviation increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol
was associated with a 1.5% lower white blood cell count (P = .018) but was not significantly associated with changes in any individual cell
type.
Conclusion
While significant associations were observed between plasma lipid levels and white
blood cell populations, the heterogeneous and modest nature of these relationships
makes it hard to support the hypothesis that lipids are in the causal pathway for
leukogenesis in humans.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 15, 2019
Accepted:
July 7,
2019
Received:
March 31,
2019
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of National Lipid Association.
