Red blood cell level is increased in obese but not in non-obese patients with coronary heart disease

Objective To examine the changes of red blood cell levels in the obese and non-obese patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and its clinical significance. Methods 230 cases of coronary heart disease were selected and divided into the obese group and the nonobese group. Obesity and non-obesity were defined based on the body mass index (BMI  28.0kg/m2), or waist-hip ratio (men> 0.9, women> 0.85). In addition, 130 healthy subjects were recruited as controls. The pathological status of coronary lesions was quantitatively analyzed according to the Coronary Vascular Image Segmentation Evaluation Criteria (American Heart Association 1984) and the Gensini scoring system. Results of the changes of both the hemoglobin levels and the red blood cell count in the obese group, the nonobese group with CHD and the control group were compared. Besides, Multivariant Logistic Regression Analysis was applied to assess the correlation between the red blood cells and the coronary artery disease. Results The red blood cell count and the level of hemoglobin in the obese group with CHD was higher than that in the non-obese group with CHD (4.35±0.55) and (4.13±0.56) 109/L; (136.71 ±15.87) and (129.96±16.23) g/L, P < 0.05 in both; the proportion of acute coronary syndrome in the obese group with CHD was higher in the obese group with CHD than that in the non-obese group with CHD (P<0.05); Multivariant logistic regression analysis also showed that the red blood cell count was positively correlated with obesity with CHD. Conclusion The red blood cell count and the level of hemoglobin in the obese group were higher than those in the non-obese group; the increase of red blood cell count and hemoglobin level is one of the independent risk factors for the obese patients with CHD (J Geriatr Cardiol 2010; 7:143-146).