White blood cells and its relation with obesity, lipid profile and inflammatory markers in indian women

Introduction: Non- communicable diseases (NCDs) are on rise in developed and developing countries and inflammation is one of the root causes for most of these NCDs. In obesity, diabetes and other diseases with underlying insulin resistance, persistent leucocytosis, reflects underlying inflammation. Therefore, the objective of present study was to study the association between white blood cells (WBC), obesity and inflammation and also study whether WBC is associated with pro-inflammatory markers independent of obesity and body fat distribution. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 200 apparently healthy women aged 21-45 years living in urban slums of Mumbai. They were assessed for complete blood count, lipid profile and inflammatory markers. Weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and skinfolds were measured and body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), waist to height ratio (WHtR) and percent body fat (PBF) were calculated. Results: A little more than three-fourth of the women (n=170) had WBC<11000 cells/cu mm whereas thirty women had leucocytosis with WBC≥11000 cells/cu mm. Sixty percent of women with leucocytosis were obese with BMI≥25kg/m2. Mean hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in overweight/obese women having leucocytosis (7.7±3.5mg/L) compared to those women who had normal BMI and having leucocytosis (5.0±3.3mg/L) or women with normal BMI and WBC counts both together (3.6±3.3mg/L). Conclusion: Leucocytosis can form a simple marker of underlying inflammation in obesity and obesity- associated NCD’s. It can be used as a simple measure for biochemical investigation in obese individuals to detect and prevent adults who are at risk of developing non-communicable diseases.