Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between the white blood cell(WBC) count of peripheral blood at the early stage of acute myocardial infarction(AMI) and the prognosis.Methods One thousand and fifty-six cases of AMI were divided into normal WBC counting and elevated WBC counting groups(≤10×10⁹/L or >10×10⁹/L). Clinical characteristics of the two groups and in-hospital mortality were compared.Results The mean age of patients with leukocytosis was lower than that of the control〔(61.3±12.7) years and (64.3±11.3) years respectively, P<0.001〕; the peak value of MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase was higher in the group with elevated WBC count〔(2 137.6±1 543.4) IU/L and (1 410.1±1 183.9) respectively, P<0.001〕; the incidence of cardiogenic shock(6.0% and 2.3% respectively, P<0.01) and arrhythmias(41.5% and 29.4% respectively, P<0.001) were also higher in the WBC elevated group. WBC count was an independent predictor for in-hospital mortality by logistic regression analysis.Conclusion The WBC count is a valuable short-term predictor for in-hospital mortality patients with AMI.

Key words: acute myocardial infarction, white blood cell count, prognosis