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Evaluation of a Point-of-Care Testing Analyzer for Measuring Peripheral Blood Leukocytes
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Evaluation of a Point-of-Care Testing Analyzer for Measuring Peripheral Blood Leukocytes

Published on: March 22, 2022

Leukocyte count in peripheral arterial disease: A simple, reliable, inexpensive approach to cardiovascular risk

Giuseppe Giugliano1, Gregorio Brevetti, Simona Lanero

  • 1Department of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular and Immunological Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.

Atherosclerosis
|December 8, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Elevated total leukocyte count (TLC) and neutrophil count (NC) predict major cardiovascular events in peripheral arterial disease (PAD). These simple blood tests improve risk prediction when combined with the ankle-brachial index (ABI).

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Hematology
  • Vascular Disease Research

Background:

  • Elevated leukocyte count is a known cardiovascular risk predictor in general and coronary populations.
  • The prognostic significance of leukocyte count in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) remains under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of leukocyte count on major cardiovascular event incidence in PAD patients.
  • To determine if leukocyte count enhances the prognostic capability of the ankle-brachial index (ABI).

Main Methods:

  • Prospective assessment of myocardial infarction and stroke in 259 consecutive PAD patients.
  • Utilized Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis and bootstrap methods for outcome prediction cut-offs.
  • Employed hazard ratios (HRs) and c-statistics to evaluate risk classification accuracy.

Main Results:

  • Total leukocyte count (TLC) and neutrophil count (NC) were independently associated with increased cardiovascular risk (HR=1.35 and HR=1.31, respectively).
  • Patients with low ABI (< or = 0.63) and high TLC (>7.7 x10^9/L) or NC (>4.6 x10^9/L) faced a five-fold increased risk.
  • Combining ABI with TLC or NC significantly improved prognostic prediction (c-statistics 0.70 and 0.69) compared to ABI alone (0.61).

Conclusions:

  • Inexpensive and reliable TLC and NC tests predict major cardiovascular events in PAD patients.
  • Leukocyte counts significantly add to the prognostic power of the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in PAD.
  • TLC and NC represent valuable, accessible tools for risk stratification in peripheral arterial disease.
Abstract

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