Association between Leukocyte Counts and Physical Fitness in Male Military Members: The CHIEF Study

Abstract

Low-grade inflammation, which is related to obesity and toxic substance use in young adults, may be associated with poor physical fitness. We investigated the association between total leukocyte count and physical fitness in a military cohort of 3,453 healthy young Taiwanese males aged 20–50 years in a cross-sectional study in 2014. Low-grade inflammation was defined according to equally sized quartiles of total leukocyte counts within the suggested normal limits (4.00–9.99 × 10 ³/mm ³). Aerobic fitness was assessed by the time for a 3-kilometer run test, and anaerobic fitness was evaluated by the numbers of sit-ups and push-ups performed in 2 minutes. Automatic monitoring systems were used to verify the scores for all procedures. Multiple linear regression was utilized to identify the associations among variables. When compared with the lowest counts (4.00–5.49 × 10 ³/mm ³), the second highest (6.50–7.49 × 10 ³/mm ³) and highest normal leukocyte counts (7.50–9.99 × 10 ³/mm ³) were correlated with longer times for a 3-kilometer run (β and 95% confidence intervals =4.93 (1.61, 8.25) and 4.65 (2.20, 7.10), respectively) and fewer numbers of push-ups performed in 2 minutes (β = −0.59 (−1.15, −0.03) and −0.56 (−0.96, −0.17), respectively), after adjustments for age, service specialty, waist circumference, body mass index, alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, and physical activity. However, the association with 2-minute sit-ups was null. Our study suggested an inverse association between total leukocyte count and not only aerobic fitness but also parts of anaerobic fitness in young males. The temporal association needs confirmation in longitudinal studies.