Journal of nutritional science and vitaminologyAug 11, 2012

Links between white blood cell counts and heart disease risk factors in healthy Japanese men

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Updated Apr 3, 2026

Abstract

A total of 3,576 apparently healthy Japanese men were examined for associations between leukocyte subset counts and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Increased white blood cell, neutrophil, and monocyte counts are linked to lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and higher C-reactive protein levels.
Lymphocyte counts are positively associated with lipid abnormalities, including lower HDL-C and higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triacylglycerol.
Basophil counts are associated with elevated triacylglycerol and liver injury markers, such as alanine aminotransferase.
These findings indicate that different leukocyte subsets may have varying relationships with cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Simplified

Increased leukocyte counts, particularly white blood cell and neutrophil counts, are reportedly associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and mortality in subjects with acute and moderate coronary diseases. However, few reports have determined the associations between leukocyte subset (i.e., white blood cells, neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, basophils and eosinophils) counts and CVD risk factors. In this study, we examined the associations between leukocyte subset counts and CVD risk factors in apparently healthy Japanese men. We conducted a cross-sectional study of men who participated in health checkups, and selected those who were not being treated for metabolic diseases. We determined associations between leukocyte subset counts and CVD risk factors by multivariate linear regression (MLR) analysis and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Overall, 3,576 subjects aged 49.3±5.75 (range, 40-59) y were recruited. MLR and ANCOVA showed that white blood cell, neutrophil, monocyte counts are associated with decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and increased C-reactive protein levels, the lymphocyte count is positively associated with lipid abnormalities (i.e., decreased HDL-C, increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased triacylglycerol (TG)), and the basophil count is associated with increased TG and liver injury marker levels (i.e., alanine aminotransferase). Our results in this study demonstrated that leukocyte subset counts showed differential associations with CVD risk factors in apparently healthy Japanese men.

Links between white blood cell counts and heart disease risk factors in healthy Japanese men

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