Background: Haematological changes have been associated with physical activity (exercise) and these changes have been found to involve leucocytes, red blood cells and thrombocytes depending on variables such as the duration and intensity of the exercise. Objective: This experimental pre-post test study was designed to assess the changes in white blood cell, red blood cell and platelet parameters following short term exercise. Method: A total of 30 participants with an average age of 23.8 ± 1.98 years participated in the standard treadmill exercise (Bruce protocol) for 30 minutes on voluntary basis. Blood samples were collected from the subjects before exercise, immediately after exercise and 24 hours after exercise. Hematological parameters were analyzed using hematology auto-analyzer. Height, weight, body mass index and blood pressure of the participant were measured. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics committee of Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology and informed consent of the participants were obtained. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The platelet count significantly increased post-exercise compared to pre-exercise and decreased 24hours post-exercise compared to postexercise value. Conversely, the Platelet distribution width (PDW) significantly decreased at post-exercise compared to pre-exercise, and significantly increased at 24hours post exercise compared to post-exercise value. Moreover, there was a significant increase in Mean platelet volume (MPV) at 24hours post-exercise compared to post exercise and a significant decrease in Plateletcrit (PCT) at 24hours post-exercise compared to post-exercise. At post-exercise and 24hours post-exercise, the total lymphocyte count was significantly higher in females while the granulocyte count was significantly higher in males. Also at 24 hours post exercise the MCHC was significantly higher in females compared to males. At post-exercise, there was a significant positive correlation between BMI and MCH (r=0.512, P=0.004) and BMI and MCHC (r=0.553, P=0.003) while there was a significant negative correlation between BMI and MPV (r=-0.367, P=0.046). Conclusion: Short term exercise causes significant alterations in platelet parameters than other hematological parameters.

Background: Alcohol consumption has been known to have physiological, mental, psychological and haematological effects on consumers. Aim and Objectives: This is study was aimed at assessing the effects of alcohol consumption on haemorrheology and osmotic fragility of alcoholconsumers in Nnewi metropolis as well as the gender and age variations. Study Design: This is a case control study. Method: A total of 100 subjects comprising 50 alcohol consumers (35 males and 15 females) and 50 non-alcohol consumers (35 males and 15 females) were recruited. The study subjects were tested for Relative Whole blood viscosity (RWBV), Relative plasma viscosity (RPV), Relative serum viscosity (RSV) and Osmotic fragility (Median Corpuscular Fragility (MCF) after obtaining ethical approval and informed consent of the subjects. RSV, RWBV and RPV were carried out by a modification of the capillary method of Reid and Ugwu (1987). Osmotic fragility was estimated using the method described by Dacie and Lewis (2012). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed a significant increase in the mean of RWBV, RPV, RSV and MCF of alcohol consumers when compared with non-alcohol consumers (P<0.05). Similarly, the mean values of RWBV of male alcohol consumers were significantly higher than that of female alcohol consumers. However, there was no significant difference in the mean values of RWBV, RPV, RSV and MCF of alcohol consumers based on different age group (P>0.05). Also the mean values of RPV, RSV and MCF between male and female alcohol consumers showed no significant difference. Conclusion: Alcohol consumption results in significant alterations in haemorrheology and osmotic fragility of consumers.