Introduction.White blood cell (WBC) count is often included in routine clinical checkups. We determined the prognostic impact\r\nof WBC count on all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality during an 11-year followup in a general population\r\nof 75-year-olds. Study Population. The study included 207 men and 220 women comprising 69% of the invited 75-year-olds in a\r\ndefined geographical area. Main Results.The median WBC count (in 109/L) was 6.3 (interquartile range 5.4ââ?¬â??7.2) for men and 5.7\r\n(4.9ââ?¬â??6.8) for women, ?? < 0.001 for sex difference.The hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality per 109/L increase in WBCs was\r\n1.16 (95% confidence interval, 1.03ââ?¬â??1.32; ?? = 0.016) in men and 1.28 (1.10ââ?¬â??1.50; ?? = 0.002) in women. These HRs were essentially\r\nunchanged by adjustment for established risk factors (current smoking, known hypertension, prior myocardial infarction,\r\nknown diabetes, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and body mass index). Furthermore, increased WBC\r\ncount was significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality in both sexes and with noncardiovascular mortality in women.\r\nConclusions.TheWBC count deserves attention as a potentially clinical useful predictor of survival in the 75-year-olds, especially\r\namong women.
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