White Blood Cell Counts and Onset of Cardiovascular Diseases: a CALIBER Study

The complete blood count is a commonly performed blood test, and previous small studies have suggested that the counts of some types of white blood cell in the complete blood count may be related to the onset of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart attack. This is of interest because this information may help to predict strokes or heart attacks and may guide new therapies which act on white blood cells to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The hypothesis is that counts of particular types of white blood cell are associated with a range of cardiovascular diseases.