Association between cigarette smoking, white blood cell count, and metabolic syndrome as defined by the Japanese criteria.
OBJECTIVE
Cigarette smoking increases the circulating white blood cell (WBC) count and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. We investigated the association between cigarette smoking, WBC count, and metabolic syndrome as defined by the Japanese criteria.


METHODS
Cross-sectional data from 3,687 men undergoing general health screening between 2005 and 2006 were analyzed.


RESULTS
After adjustment for age and total cholesterol, former and current smoking were associated with the highest WBC quartile (>or=6.3 x 10(3) cells/muL) with an odds ratio of 1.35 (95% CI 1.09-1.66, P=0.0055) and 4.45 (95% CI 3.69-5.37, P<0.0001), respectively. It was found that increased WBC count was a risk factor for metabolic syndrome; on the other hand, the current smoking was not found to be a predictor for metabolic syndrome, when each WBC count quartile was separately analyzed.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that the risk for MetS, defined by Japanese criteria, might be estimated by the WBC count in Japanese men irrespective of their smoking status, although it should also be noted that the cigarette smoking increases the number of circulating WBC count.
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine. nobuishizka-tky@umin.ac.jp
Nobukazu
N
Ishizaka
Yuko
Y
Ishizaka
Ei-Ichi
E
Toda
Ryozo
R
Nagai
Minoru
M
Yamakado
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*