White Blood Cell Count: An Effective Tool for Predicting the Short-term Prognosis of Patients with Unstable Angina-- A Prospective Study

By early detection of high-risk patients presenting in emergency departments with primary unstable angina and performing the required diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, we can decrease the mortality and morbidity of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study is the evaluation of the role of White Blood Cell count as a tool in determining the short-term prognosis of patients with primary unstable angina. Patients and In this descriptive-analytic, prospective study, White Blood Cell count was performed on every patient diagnosed with primary unstable angina and admitted to the emergency department of Hazrat-e-Rasoul Hospital in a 3-month period.Then its relation with age, sex, underlying diseases, duration of chest pain (more or less than 30 minutes), pain response to sublingual TriNitroGlycerni(TNG), and short-term prognosis (from admission time until 2 months after discharge) was evaluated using t-test and SPSS v.11 software. There was no statistically significant relationship between WBC count and age(P value=0.47), sex (P value=0.57), hypertension (P value=0.76), and duration of pain (P value=0.62). However,there was a statistically significant relationship between WBC count and response to sublingual TNG (P value=0.025), remaining asymptomatic (P value=0.035), admission into CCU(P value=0.035), and death from cardiovascular accidents (P value=0.035). WBC count is a simple, inexpensive, easily available and effective tool in predicting the short-term prognosis of patients presenting in emergency departments with unstable angina.