The relationships between hematogram and metabolic syndrome in elderly subgroups: A Taiwan cohort study.

Background: Abnormal hematogram components could predict future metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes. However, there was no study focusing on the subgroups of the elderly. In this ten-year longitudinal study, we investigated the association between hematogram components, future MetS and diabetes in the elderly.

Methods: Subjects above 65 years were divided into three groups by age (young old: ≧65 and <75, old-old: ≧75 and <85 and oldest-old ≧85).By using multiple logistic regression, the hazard ratio (HR) of higher hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell count (WBCC) and platelet (PLT) to have future MetS and diabetes were evaluated.

Results: There were 15169 subjects in the young-old group, 3536 in the old-old group and 202 in the oldest-old group, respectively. After 10 years follow-up, only higher WBCC and Hb levels (>5.0×10(3), 15 g/dL, respectively) was correlated to future MetS in young-old men (adjusted HR: 1.242, 1.166, respectively). In addition, higher Hb (>13.7 g/dL) was originally associated with future MetS in young-old and old-old women but failed in adjusted HR. Moreover, the PLT did not correlate with any of the endpoints. Finally, higher chances of diabetes could be noted with higher WBCC in both men and women (adjusted HR: 1.404, 1.206, respectively).

Conclusions: The associations between hematogram and future MetS were different in each subgroup of the elderly. Higher WBCC and Hb levels could predict future MetS in young-old men. Moreover, Higher WBCC is positively correlated with future diabetes in both young-old men and women.