Granulocytic Adherence in Chronic Alcoholism

Abstract

Granulocytic adherence was measured in blood samples from 40 chronic alcoholic subjects soon after withdrawal from ethanol and from 40 nonalcoholic control subjects. Mean granulocytic adherence (76.5%) and mean neutrophil counts (5,095/cu mm) were higher for alcoholic than for nonalcoholic subjects (mean granulocytic adherence, 64.4%; mean neutrophil count, 3,956/cu mm). For the alcoholic subjects, mean granulocytic adherence was highest (87.9%) during the period from 12 to 48 hours after the last alcohol consumption, the same period in which the neutrophil count was lowest. Mean granulocytic adherence for alcoholic subjects who had received hydroxyzine alone (65.5%), diazepam alone (73.5%), or both of these drugs (76.0%) within 12 hours of testing were lower than the mean granulocytic adherence (83.8%) for the group receiving neither of these drugs. Mean granulocytic adherence was lower ( P < .001) in the group whose alcoholism was of less than five years’ duration (62.7%) than in the group whose alcoholism was of more than five years’ duration (80.7%), although this difference may have been partly due to a greater proportion of the former group’s having been given diazepam and/or hydroxyzine. The authors conclude that although ethanol may inhibit granulocytic adherence acutely, during periods of abstinence from alcohol, granulocytic adherence may rebound to above normal levels. The resultant increase in margination of neutrophils may be partly responsible for the temporary neutropenia seen in some alcoholic patients at the time of admission to the hospital.