The association of total and differential white blood cell count with metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetic patients

AIMS: We investigated the relation between total and differential white blood cell (WBC) count and metabolic syndrome (MS) in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS: Eight-hundred and twenty-two patients (males 430, females 392, BMI 25.4+/-3.2 kg/m2, duration of diabetes 5.7+/-6.8 years) were enrolled in this study. We measured total WBC count and differential count, anthropometry, blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin and lipid profiles. RESULTS: The number of components of MS and prevalence of MS were increased from 1st quartile to 4th quartile of WBC count. Total WBC, neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte and eosinophil counts were increased with the increase of number of components of MS except basophil count. Total WBC, neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte and eosinophil counts were higher in the patients with MS features than those without MS features. WBC count was positively correlated with waist circumference (gamma=0.134), systolic blood pressure (gamma=0.082), diastolic blood pressure (gamma=0.083), triglyceride (gamma=0.241), insulin (gamma=0.222), and HOMA-IR (gamma=0.225), and negatively with HDL cholesterol (gamma=-0.146) (p<0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Chronic inflammation, as indicated by a higher WBC count, may be related with the increased number of components of MS in type 2 diabetic patients.