Gaisböck Syndrome

Q: What is Gaisböck's syndrome?

Answer: A version of relative polycythemia.

 Gaisböck's syndrome is also called stress or spurious polycythemia, as it is classically described as erythrocytosis in tense/anxious patients. The components of the syndrome are:

• Anxiety
• Hypertension (HTN)
• No evidence of splenomegaly, and 
• Evidence of reduced plasma volume

Many of these patients are on a diuretic for HTN treatment, and are smokers to alleviate their anxiety. These factors contribute to the syndrome.

Many experts argue against the existence of this syndrome as a specific entity (see reference # 4)

#hematology

References:

1. Manal N, Rizvi M, Nugent K. Gaisbock Syndrome: A Review of Contemporary Studies, Pathogenesis, Complications, and Possible Treatment. Cardiol Rev. 2023 Sep-Oct 01;31(5):247-251. doi: 10.1097/CRD.0000000000000443. Epub 2022 Feb 7. PMID: 35148535.

2. LAWRENCE JH, BERLIN NI. Relative polycythemia; the polycythemia of stress. Yale J Biol Med 1952; 24:498.

3. Krishnamoorthy P, Gopalakrishnan A, Mittal V, Kalla A, Slipczuk L, Rangaswami J, Figueredo VM, Messerli FH. Gaisböck syndrome (polycythemia and hypertension) revisited: results from the national inpatient sample database. J Hypertens. 2018 Dec;36(12):2420-2424. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000001805. PMID: 29847483.

4. Brown SM, Gilbert HS, Krauss S, Wasserman LR. Spurious (relative) polycythemia: a nonexistent disease. Am J Med 1971; 50:200.