White Blood Cell Counts, Leukocyte Ratios, and Eosinophils as Inflammatory Markers in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

Inflammation is a key feature of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations. The leukocyte count has emerged as a marker of inflammation that is widely available in clinical practice. Since inflammation plays a key role in atherosclerosis and its end results, discovering new biomarkers of inflammation becomes important in order to help diagnostic accuracy and provide prognostic information about coronary cardiac disease. In acute coronary syndromes and percutaneous coronary intervention, elevated levels of almost all subtypes of white blood cell counts, including eosinophils, monocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes, and neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio and eosinophil–leukocyte ratio constitute independent predictors of adverse outcomes. Eosinophil count and eosinophil–leukocyte ratio, in particular, emerge as novel biomarkers for risk stratification in patients with coronary artery disease. Since the presence of eosinophils denotes hypersensitivity inflammation and hypersensitivity associated with Kounis syndrome, this reality is essential for elucidating the etiology of inflammation in order to consider predictive and preventive measures and to apply the appropriate therapeutic methods.