WBC linked to metabolic syndrome risk, severe psychiatric symptoms in schizophrenia

Print Send to a Colleague

10 March 2010

MedWire News: White blood cell count (WBC) may be useful for predicting the metabolic syndrome and more severe psychiatric symptoms in non-diabetic patients with schizophrenia, say US researchers.

“Our results are consistent with similar previous findings from various non-psychiatric populations,” say Xiaoduo Fan (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts) and co-authors.

They add: “WBC is a simple, inexpensive and readily available marker, and may therefore constitute a valuable, simple aid in risk stratification.”

The researchers determined anthropometric measures and measured vital signs and psychiatric symptoms using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in 199 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder aged 19–75 years. Fasting blood samples were collected to determine levels of glucose, lipids, and WBC.

Overall, 53.8% of patients met the diagnostic criteria for the metabolic syndrome.

No significant difference was seen for the number of patients diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome according to whether they were treated with olanzapine, risperidone, or typical antipsychotics.

WBC values were significantly higher in patients diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome compared with those who were not, at 8.0 versus 6.9 x 10³/µl, respectively.

Significant positive correlations were found between WBC and fasting triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and fasting glucose after adjusting for confounders.

Furthermore, regression analysis showed that a high WBC significantly predicted three of the five individual criteria for the metabolic syndrome – namely waist circumference, fasting triglyceride, and blood pressure – after controlling for age, gender, race, age at illness onset, family history of diabetes, smoking status, and antipsychotic agent used.

The team also found significant correlations between WBC and BPRS total score, negative symptom score, and anxious depression factor score after controlling for confounders.

“These findings are consistent with our previous report that elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein are associated with higher total scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), as well as higher scores on the Negative Symptom subscale and the General Psychopathology subscale of the PANSS,” write the authors in the journal Schizophrenia Research.

Fan et al conclude: “Inflammation may represent a common pathophysiological condition related to both metabolic disturbances and schizophrenia psychopathology… Future studies examining drugs that alter the inflammatory processes could be of great clinical relevance in patients with schizophrenia.”

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2010

Free abstract