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White blood cell count and hypertension

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 20, pages 310–312 (2006)Cite this article

Hypertension is a major global health problem and public-health challenge, demanding a vast proportion of health care resources directly and indirectly because of its high and increasing prevalence and the concomitant risks of cardiovascular and kidney disease, disability-adjusted life-years and mortality.1, 2 Various risk factors have been implicated in the development of hypertension, some of which include genetic, environmental, psychosocial, and inflammatory factors.3, 4

Links between inflammation and hypertension have been suggested in the past, with mounting evidence of more than a mere putative link between the two, with implications in the development of complications and the management of hypertension per se.4, 5 Indeed, various inflammatory markers including high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and white blood cell (WBC) count have been studied and found to be associated with hypertension and its complications.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Certainly, there has been an enormous interest in the identification of these measurable indices even in persons at risk of, but without overt hypertension or complicating cardiovascular disorders. However, most of these studies have been cross-sectional in design, making it difficult to understand whether inflammation, chronic or mild, with an increase in the inflammatory markers, is a cause or an effect of high blood pressure (Table 1).12, 13, 14

Table 1 Examples of studies investigating the relationship between WBC count and hypertension
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  1. University Department of Medicine, Haemostasis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, City Hospital, Birmingham, UK

    V J Karthikeyan & G Y H Lip

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Karthikeyan, V., Lip, G. White blood cell count and hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 20, 310–312 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001980

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