Gangaraju R, Koh I, Irvin MR, et al. - Findings demonstrate an independent association of cytopenia with increased all‐cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, with hazard ratios 1.73 and 1.56 respectively, in a large biracial and geographically diverse population. Whether generated via somatic mutations or reduced organ function, cytopenia was found to be related to mortality risk and represented a race‐specific risk factor for stroke.

• A total of 19,864 participants from the REGARDS study (a biracial observational cohort study) (37.9% men, 40% Black participants) with complete blood count available were included.

• A cytopenia phenotype was defined depending on age‐, gender‐, and race‐adjusted lowest fifth percentile of blood counts.

• Cytopenia was linked with 1.7‐fold elevated risk of all‐cause death and 1.6‐fold higher risk of CVD mortality, with the strongest link in younger people aged 45 to 55 years.

• There was an association of cytopenia with stroke risk in Black but not White participants (HR, 1.96 vs 0.86).