title: White blood cells contribute to patient-specific warfarin dose for Han Chinese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Warfarin is the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant worldwide. Factors which influence warfarin's inter-individual requirements including age, weight, and genetic factors explained about 50% of dose variance, and unidentified factors still remain. The aim of this study was to explore whether white blood cell count affects warfarin dose requirements.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and twenty-two patients suffering from venous thromboembolism (VTE) and taking warfarin were recruited in this study. Genotyping of selected genes was conducted and other information was collected using the Epidata software. Dosing algorithms were constructed by multivariate linear regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In addition to well-known factors such as age, body weight, CYP2C9*3, and VKORC1 c.1173C > T, white blood cell counts negatively related to warfarin dose requirements and contributed to warfarin variability in Han Chinese by about 0.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  White blood cell count has a small but significant contribution to warfarin dose requirements in Han Chinese.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Beijing Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Wen-Jie
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Wei-Juan
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: He-Yao
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D044466:Asian People; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics; D014859:Warfarin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D014859:Warfarin