Prevalence of lymphopenia in the American population: Insights from demographic, BMI, and lifestyle factors.

Abstract

ObjectiveTo determine the difference in the prevalence of lymphopenia in the American population according to demographic characteristics, body mass index (BMI) and living habits.MethodsA total of 33,365 participants aged over 1 were included in the 2009-2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES). All analyses used weighted samples and considered the layering and clustering of the design.ResultsUsing white participants as a reference, the prevalence of lymphopenia in Mexican-American participants was significantly lower than that of white participants (P = 0.018). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of lymphopenia between black participants (P = 0.376) and white participants. The prevalence of lymphopenia was 1.81% (95%CI, 1.53%-2.10%) for white participants, 1.08% (95%CI, 0.78%-1.39%) for black participants, and 0.42% (95%CI, 0.17%-0.68%) for Mexican-American participants. The prevalence of lymphopenia increases with age, reaching a peak of 6.84% among elderly participants aged 75 and above. In terms of the gender difference, the prevalence of lymphopenia in men is significantly higher than that in women (PConclusionIn the diagnosis and treatment of lymphopenia, clinicians should consider the influence of factors such as race, gender, age, sleep disorders, and other unhealthy lifestyle habits to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, thereby reducing the high mortality risk associated with lymphopenia. Consequently, we propose a novel perspective that the diagnosis and treatment of lymphopenia should be tailored to the lymphocyte levels of specific subpopulations, rather than applying a generalized approach.