The study adds to the growing body of evidence that inflammation plays a role in strokes and heart attacks, perhaps by weakening blood vessels and causing fatty buildups inside them to break loose and create a blockage.
Women with the highest levels of white blood cells were found to be twice as likely to die from heart disease as women with the lowest levels. High white blood cell counts also were associated with a 40 percent higher risk for nonfatal heart attack and a 46 percent higher risk for stroke.
White blood cells are the body's germ fighters. Their levels rise when the body is fighting infection from viruses and bacteria, and doctors routinely take a white blood cell count to diagnose various illnesses.
Current guidelines for predicting heart disease already direct doctors to test for another marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein, in some patients. But the white blood cell test is cheaper and more widely available. And it is as strong a predictor as C-reactive protein, the researchers said.
"It's really a wake-up call for the profession," he said. "Heart disease was not created by cholesterol alone."
The study is part of the Women's Health Initiative, a research project of the National Institutes of Health that involves thousands of postmenopausal women across the country. Other WHI studies have uncovered the risks of taking hormones.
Archives of Internal Medicine March 2005
Steve - High WBC is an indicator of inflammation and should be taken seriously, especially if conjunction with a high CRP. It is wonderful to see the medical community starting to focus their attention on inflammation, which makes up at least 50% of the cardiac risk. Cholesterol is only a piece of the cardiac puzzle.
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