Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2012 Oct;24(5):439-47. doi: 10.3275/8473. Epub 2012 Jun 25.
The aims of this exploratory study were to study whether fatigue might be related to the cellular immune system by 1) analysing if the number of white blood cell subsets are related to fatigue and 2) if possible relationships vary in younger and older community-dwelling individuals.
The participants were recruited from nine general practitioners in Aarhus County, Denmark and included 196 individuals aged 20-35 years and 314 individuals aged 70-85 years. The white blood cell counts included number of total leukocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. General fatigue was measured by a question from the SF-12 Vitality-Scale and mobility-related fatigue by the Avlund Mob-T Scale.
Total number of lymphocytes was associated with fatigue in the old sample, both in the crude and adjusted analyses. Total number of leukocytes and netrophils were associated with fatigue in both age groups in the crude analyses. In the old sample the estimates were attenuated to non-significance when adjusting for physical activity and disability. In the young sample the estimates stayed statistically significant in the fully adjusted analyses regarding number of neutrophils, while the associations between fatigue and number of leukocytes were attenuated to non-significance when adjusting for depressive mood.
Total number of leukocytes, lymphocytes and neutrophils were associated with fatigue in both age groups, while the explanatory factors for the associations differed by age group, in that the associations were partly explained by physical activity and disability in the old sample and partly by depressive mood in the young sample. The findings provide initial insight into the potential role of leukocyte, neutrophil and lymphocyte counts in the development of fatigue.
本探索性研究旨在通过以下两个方面来研究疲劳是否与细胞免疫系统有关：1）分析白细胞亚群的数量是否与疲劳有关；2）如果可能，这些关系在年轻和年长的社区居民中是否不同。
参与者是从丹麦奥胡斯郡的九位全科医生那里招募的，包括 196 名年龄在 20-35 岁之间的人和 314 名年龄在 70-85 岁之间的人。白细胞计数包括总白细胞数、淋巴细胞、单核细胞、中性粒细胞、嗜酸性粒细胞和嗜碱性粒细胞。一般疲劳通过 SF-12 活力量表中的一个问题来衡量，而与移动性相关的疲劳通过 Avlund Mob-T 量表来衡量。
在老年样本中，淋巴细胞总数与疲劳有关，在未调整和调整分析中均如此。在粗分析中，总白细胞数和中性粒细胞数与两个年龄组的疲劳有关。在老年样本中，当调整体力活动和残疾因素后，估计值变得无统计学意义。在年轻样本中，当调整抑郁情绪时，关于中性粒细胞数量的疲劳估计值在完全调整分析中仍具有统计学意义，而白细胞数量与疲劳之间的关联在调整抑郁情绪后变得无统计学意义。
在两个年龄组中，白细胞总数、淋巴细胞和中性粒细胞与疲劳有关，而关联的解释因素因年龄组而异，即老年组的关联部分由体力活动和残疾解释，年轻组的关联部分由抑郁情绪解释。这些发现初步揭示了白细胞、中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞计数在疲劳发展中的潜在作用。
