Impact of β-thalassemia trait carrier state on inflammatory status in patients with newly diagnosed hypertension

Background B-thalassemia carrier state or thalassemia minor confers cardiovascular protection through favorable lipidemic and blood pressure profile. However, its impact on inflammatory status—a common denominator of the above conditions—has not been addressed. Methods We investigated a wide range of inflammatory markers [white blood cell (WBC) count, homocysteine, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), fibrinogen, plasminogen, fibronectin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and uric acid] in a large cohort of 15 805 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients (8299 men, 7506 women); 626 of them (4.0%) had thalassemia minor. Results The levels of WBC, homocysteine, CRP, SAA, fibrinogen, and PAI-1 were significantly lower in thalassemia minor patients, but not of plasminogen, fibronectin, and uric acid. In multivariate linear regression analyses, the lower values of WBC (
Source: Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Tags: Research articles: Prevention Source Type: research