ANAEMIA AND ELEVATED LEUCOCYTE COUNT AS A RISK FACTOR FOR ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASE

Anaemia is the most common nutritional disorder in Indian females. It is well-known that children and women in the reproductive age group vulnerable to iron deficiency anaemia. Decreased Hb level is associated with increased work load and hypoxia (ischaemic damage) results in elevated leucocyte count. Many epidemiological studies have shown that anaemia and elevated leucocyte count as a risk factor for cardiovascular and ischaemic diseases. The present study was done to estimate the Hb(gm percent), RBC count, Total and Differential leucocyte count (TLC,DLC) in anaemic and non- anaemic females. Study group comprised of forty anaemic women (Hb less than 7 gm - Grade 3 severe anaemia with atleast 3 months of duration as it is associated with hypoxia and ischaemia that results in increased morbidity and mortality) in the age group of 20 -40yrs, forty age and sex matched healthy subjects (Hb more than 12 gm percent) were selected as controls. The results were analysed using Unpaired Students t test. Our study result shows that Total leucocyte count was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) in severe anaemia Vs controls. On DLC, Neutrophil and Basophil were significantly higher (p less than 0.001), Eosinophil,Monocyte count were significantly less in anaemic Vs controls with no alteration in the lymphocyte count. There was a significant increase in Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in severe anaemia (p less than 0.001). In conclusion, leucocyte counts are altered in severe anaemia which plays an important role in predicting the future risk of ischaemic diseases. Further study is needed to find out whether leucocytosis is associated with mild and moderate cases of anaemia so that various intervention strategies can be implemented at an early stage to decrease the risk of CAD in developing countries.