title: Effect of different doses of aerobic exercise on total white blood cell (WBC) and WBC subfraction number in postmenopausal women: results from DREW.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elevated total white blood cell (WBC) count is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and death. Aerobic exercise is associated with lower total WBC, neutrophil, and monocyte counts. However, no studies have evaluated the effect of the amount of aerobic exercise (dose) on total WBC and WBC subfraction counts.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effects of 3 different doses of aerobic exercise on changes in total WBC and WBC subfraction counts and independent effects of changes in fitness, adiposity, markers of inflammation (IL-6, TNF-α, C-reactive protein), fasting glucose metabolism, and adiponectin.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 390 sedentary, overweight/obese postmenopausal women from the DREW study were used in these analyses. Women were randomized to a non-exercise control group or one of 3 exercise groups: energy expenditure of 4, 8, or 12 kcal kg(-1)⋅week(-1) (KKW) for 6 months at an intensity of 50% VO2peak.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A dose-dependent decrease in total WBC counts (trend P = 0.002) was observed with a significant decrease in the 12KKW group (-163.1±140.0 cells/µL; mean±95%CI) compared with the control (138.6±144.7 cells/µL). A similar response was seen in the neutrophil subfraction (trend P = 0.001) with a significant decrease in the 12KKW group (-152.6±115.1 cells/µL) compared with both the control and 4KKW groups (96.4±119.0 and 21.9±95.3 cells/µL, respectively) and in the 8KKW group (-102.4±125.0 cells/µL) compared with the control. When divided into high/low baseline WBC categories (median split), a dose-dependent decrease in both total WBCs (P = 0.003) and neutrophils (P<0.001) was observed in women with high baseline WBC counts. The effects of exercise dose on total WBC and neutrophil counts persisted after accounting for significant independent effects of change in waist circumference and IL-6.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aerobic exercise training reduces total WBC and neutrophil counts, in a dose-dependent manner, in overweight/obese postmenopausal women and is especially beneficial for those with systemic low grade inflammation.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  NCT00011193.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America. neil.johannsen@pbrc.edu
authors.forename: Neil M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Johannsen
authors.forename: Damon L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Swift
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Vishwa D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.forename: Conrad P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Earnest
authors.forename: Steven N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: Timothy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology; D010809:Physical Fitness; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005947:Glucose