ANAEMIA AND ELEVATED LEUCOCYTE COUNT AS A RISK FACTOR FOR ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASE

Abstract

Anaemia is the most common nutritional
disorder in Indian females. It is well-known
that children and women in the reproductive
age group vulnerable to iron deficiency
anaemia. Decreased Hb level is associated
with increased work load and hypoxia
(ischaemic damage) results in elevated
leucocyte count. Many epidemiological
studies have shown that anaemia and elevated
leucocyte count as a risk factor for
cardiovascular and ischaemic diseases.
The present study was done to estimate
the Hb(gm percent), RBC count, Total and
Differential leucocyte count (TLC,DLC) in
anaemic and non- anaemic females. Study
group comprised of forty anaemic women
(Hb less than 7 gm - Grade 3 severe anaemia
with atleast 3 months of duration as it
is associated with hypoxia and ischaemia
that results in increased morbidity and
mortality) in the age group of 20 -40yrs,
forty age and sex matched healthy subjects
(Hb more than 12 gm percent) were
selected as controls. The results were
analysed using Unpaired Students t test.
Our study result shows that Total leucocyte
count was significantly higher (p less
than 0.05) in severe anaemia Vs controls.
On DLC, Neutrophil and Basophil were
significantly higher (p less than 0.001),
Eosinophil,Monocyte count were significantly
less in anaemic Vs controls with no
alteration in the lymphocyte count. There
was a significant increase in Neutrophil to
Lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in severe anaemia
(p less than 0.001). In conclusion,
leucocyte counts are altered in severe
anaemia which plays an important role in
predicting the future risk of ischaemic diseases.
Further study is needed to find out
whether leucocytosis is associated with
mild and moderate cases of anaemia so
that various intervention strategies can be
implemented at an early stage to decrease
the risk of CAD in developing
countries.