Background Both inflammation and arterial hypertension participate in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The peripheral leukocyte blood count is one of several markers of inflammation processes. Some epidemiological studies suggest, that white blood cell count can also be considered as a risk factor of arterial hypertension. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between peripheral white blood cell count and arterial blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension.
Material and methods In this retrospective analysis 1257 patients with essential arterial hypertension (720 M, 537 F) were included. In all examined subjects presence of secondary hypertension was excluded during hospitalization in our clinic. All patients were divided in quartile subgroups according to the peripheral leukocytes blood count. In all patients the following parameters were analyzed: arterial blood pressure (assesed twice by the Korotkow method in patients receiving a normal sodium diet and after 3 days of sodium restriction), BMI, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum concentrations of creatinine, uric acid, glucose, total cholesterol, plasma renin activity and blood hemoglobin concentration.
Results Patients with higher leukocyte blood count showed higher values of BMI, diastolic blood pressure (both during intake of a normal sodium diet and after 3 days of sodium restriction) and systolic blood pressure (only during sodium restriction). The lowest serum creatinine concentration but the highest serum uric acid concentration was found in a subgroup of patients with the highest leukocyte blood count. All analyzed subgroups showed a similar serum concentrations of glucose and total cholesterol. A significant positive correlation was obtained between the white blood cell count and systolic or diastolic blood pressure respectively. Multiple regression analyses for dependent variables: systolic/diastolic blood pressure revealed that leukocyte blood count weakly but significantly contributes to arterial blood pressure values.
Conclusions Results presented in this study suggest, that leukocytes (or inflammation process) may participate in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension.