Risk Factors of White Blood Cell Progression Among Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Leukemia is a type of cancers that start in the bone marrow and produce a serious number of abnormal white blood cells. Bleeding and bruising problems, fatigue, fever, and an increased risk of infection are among symptoms of the disease. The main objective of this study is to identify the determinant of the progression rate of white blood cells among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital (FHRH), Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. METHODS: A retrospective study design was conducted on 312 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia at FHRH, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia under treatment from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019. A linear mixed-effects model was considered for the progression of the white blood cell data. RESULTS: The estimated coefficient of the fixed effect intercept was 84.68, indicating that the average white blood cell (WBC) count of the patients was 84.68 at baseline time by excluding all covariates in the model (P-value <.001). Male sex (β = 2.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58, 0.5.25), age (β = .17, 95% CI 0.08, 0.28), widowed/divorced marital status (β = 3.30, 95% CI 0.03, 6.57), medium chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) stage (β = −4.34, 95% CI −6.57, −2.68), high CLL stage (β = −2.76, 95% CI −4.86, −0.67), hemoglobin (β = .15, 95% CI 0.07, 0.22), platelet (β = .09, 95% CI 0.02, 0.17), lymphocytes (β = .16, 95% CI 0.03, 0.29), red blood cell (RBC) (β = .17, 95% CI 0.09, 0.25), and follow-up time (β = .27, 95% CI 0.19, 0.36) were significantly associated with the average WBC count of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. CONCLUSIONS: The finding showed that age, sex, lymphocytic, stage of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, marital status, platelet, hemoglobin, RBC, and follow-up time were significantly associated with the average WBC count of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. Therefore, health care providers should give due attention and prioritize those identified factors and give frequent counseling about improving the health of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients.