Band neutrophil count and the presence and severity of coronary atherosclerosis

It has been consistently shown that the total blood leukocyte count is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Few studies, however, have addressed the relation between differential leukocyte counts and coronary artery disease. We investigated the relation of total and differential leukocyte counts to angiographically determined coronary atherosclerosis. The study included 486 subjects (335 men, 151 women) who underwent coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease. Band neutrophil count was significantly positively related to coronary atherosclerosis (p = 0.004) after adjustments for age, sex, body mass index, cigarettes per day, serum total cholesterol, and hypertension. Although sex and age-adjusted total blood leukocyte count was significantly positively related to coronary atherosclerosis (p = 0.04), this relation did not reach significant levels (p = 0.08) after adjusting for other risk factors. The positive association with band neutrophil counts was at least as strong as that with serum total cholesterol concentrations. This study indicates that band neutrophil counts serve as an independent risk factor for coronary atherosclerosis.