title: White blood cells count and incidence of type 2 diabetes in young men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Association between white blood cell (WBC) count and diabetes risk has been recently suggested. We assessed whether WBC count is an independent risk factor for diabetes incidence among young healthy adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  WBC count was measured in 24,897 young (mean age 30.8 ± 5.36 years), normoglycemic men with WBC range of 3,000 to 12,000 cells/mm(3). Participants were periodically screened for diabetes during a mean follow-up of 7.5 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 185,354 person-years of follow-up, diabetes was diagnosed in 447 subjects. A multivariate model adjusted for age, BMI, family history of diabetes, physical activity, and fasting glucose and triglyceride levels revealed a 7.6% increase in incident diabetes for every increment of 1,000 cells/mm(3) (P = 0.046). When grouped in quintiles, a baseline WBC count above 6,900 cells/mm(3) had an independent 52% increase in diabetes risk (hazard ratio 1.52 [95% CI 1.06-2.18]) compared with the lowest quintile (WBC <5,400 cells/mm(3)). Men at the lowest WBC quintile were protected from diabetes incidence even in the presence of overweight, family history of diabetes, or elevated triglyceride levels. After simultaneous control for risk factors, BMI was the primary contributor of the variation in multivariate models (P < 0.001), followed by age and WBC count (P < 0.001), and family history of diabetes and triglyceride levels (P = 0.12).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WBC count, a commonly used and widely available test, is an independent risk factor for diabetes in young men at values well within the normal range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine “B,” Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: Gilad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Twig
authors.forename: Arnon
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afek
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shamiss
authors.forename: Estela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Derazne
authors.forename: Dorit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tzur
authors.forename: Barak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tirosh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides