Determination of reference ranges for full blood count parameters in neonatal cord plasma in Hilla, Babil, Iraq

Abstract

BackgroundThe health of an individual is known to vary in different countries, in the same country at different times, and in the same individuals at different ages. This means that the condition of individuals must be related to or compared with reference data. Determination of a reference range for the healthy term newborn is clinically important in terms of various complete blood count parameters. The purpose of this study was to establish a local reference range for full blood count parameters in neonatal cord plasma in Hilla, Babil, Iraq.MethodsA total of 220 mothers and their neonates were enrolled in this cross-sectional study from February 2011 to January 2012. Maternal inclusion criteria were age 15–45 years, an uneventful pregnancy, and hemoglobin ≥ 10 g. Neonatal inclusion criteria were full term (37–42 weeks) and normal birth weight. The umbilical cord was immediately clamped after delivery of the baby; 3 mL of cord blood was then taken from the umbilical vein and collected in a tube containing ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid, its plasma was analyzed for full blood count parameters by standard Coulter gram, and the differential leukocyte count was done manually.ResultsMean neonatal hemoglobin was 13.88 ± 1.34 (range 11–17.3) g/dL and mean white cell count was 10.12 ± 2.8 (range 3.1–21.6) × 109/L. Mean platelet count was 267.63 ± 60.62 (range 152–472) × 109/L. No significant differences in red cell, white cell, or platelet counts were found between males and females, except for neutrophil count. The current study shows lower levels of hemoglobin, white cells, and red cells compared with other studies, and there is agreement with some studies and disagreement with others concerning platelet count.ConclusionMost results in the current study were within the reference range. The hematological reference values for Iraqi neonatal cord plasma need to be confirmed by larger numbers of blood samples and by collecting samples from different areas in Iraq.

Haematological Reference Values for Full Term Healthy Neonates Delivered Within 24 Hours in Sokoto, Northern Nigeria

“…The mean reference values for red blood cell count and haemoglobin concentration in neonates in this study were similar to the earlier studies [1,8,9] while lower value of haematocrit observed in this study compared to previously reported values of 44 -48% [1,4,8] may be associated with varying numbers of newborns, time interval between births, ethnic and dietary factors amongst other factors.…”

“…The importance of determination of haematological reference values for full term healthy neonates cannot be overemphasized as the changes in some of the blood cell parameters are of clinical importance [1,2] .…”

Correlation between Mode of Delivery and Newborn’s Cord Blood Composition

“…This study showed no statistically significant decrease in white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets counts in newborns' cord blood sample but showed a mildly statistically significant difference in the reticulocyte count between the group I and group II (vaginal groups; augmented and non-augmented), where the augmented vaginal group showed reticulocyte count higher than spontaneous vaginal group, in the other hand no statistically significant difference was found between vaginal and cesarean section group in reticulocyte count (Table 3) which may explained as that augmented group exposed to more hypoxia and stress due to more contractions. In this study there were no statistically significant differences in hemoglobin level for newborns' cord blood as regard to newborns' sex which agreed with a study reported by Jopling et al, [11] and Jasim et al, [12] but not agreed the results that had been reported by Mamoury et al, [13]. In this study we found positive correlations among newborns' cord blood hemoglobin as regard to head circumference, newborn length, fetal gestational age but we found a negative correlation among newborns of the three studied groups as regard to birth weight (Table 4).…”

Hematological reference intervals among full-term newborns in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…x10 9 /l) (23) and Sagamu Nigeria (4.3 x10 9 /l). On the contrarily, the higher limit of RI of Hgb value (19.6g/dl) of this study was consistent to a study reported in Saudi Arabia (19.7g/dl) (23) but higher than in a study reported in Logas Nigeria (14.8g/dl) (17), Pakistan (17.3g/dl) (25), Iraq (15.22g/dl) (26), and Nepal (17.2g/dl) (18). The difference of Hgb value might be due to method variation, inclusion criteria of the study participants and time of cord clamping.…”