Investigation on the reference range of venous whole blood cell counts in healthy elder people

Objective To investigate a reference range of blood cell counts in healthy elder people.Methods An automated hematological analyzer(Sysmex XT-1800) was used to determine the parameters of venous whole blood cell counts,including white blood cell(WBC),red blood cell(RBC),hemoglobin(Hb),hematocrit(HCT),mean corpuscular volume(MCV),mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH),mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC),red cell distribution width(RDW),platelet(PLT) and mean platelet volume(MPV).A total of 395 healthy elder people(197 males and 198 females ≥65 years old) and 188 controls 65 years old were enrolled.Results The WBC,RBC,Hb,HCT,MCH and MCHC in elder males were higher than those in elder females(P0.05,P0.001).PLT in elder males was lower than that in elder females(P0.001).The MCV,RDW and MPV had no statistical significance between males and females(P0.05).The reference ranges of WBC were(4.10-9.81)×109/L in males and(4.14-8.94)×109/L in females,RBC:(3.68-5.13)×1012/L in males and(3.52-5.12)×109/L in females,Hb: 119-161 g/L in males and 113-147 g/L in females,HCT: 34.0%-46.0% in males and 33.0%-47.0% in females,MCV: 84.0-99.3 fL,MCH: 29.1-34.7 pg in males and 27.7-33.7 pg in females,MCHC: 334-366 g/L in males and 328-360 g/L in females,RDW: 12.0%-14.9%,PLT:(102-257)×109/L in males and(123-337)×109/L in females and MPV: 7.7-12.1 fL.The reference ranges of RBC,Hb,HCT,MCH,MCHC,PLT and MPV in elder males had statistical significance with the males in the control group(P0.05).In elder females,the reference ranges of MCV,MCH,MCHC and MPV had statistical significance with the females in the control group(P0.05).The age of elder people had the positive correlation with WBC,MCV and RDW(r=0.106,0.208 and 0.115,P0.05),had the negative correlation with RBC,Hb,HCT and MCHC(r=-0.207,-0.200,-0.139 and-0.238,P0.001),and had no correlation with MCH,PLT and MPV.Conclusions The WBC in the elder people is higher than that in the controls.Excluding RDW with positive correlation,the other parameters have negative correlations with age increasing.PLT in elder males decreases,and MPV increases.They are different with the current reference ranges.It is important to establish the reference range of venous whole blood cell counts in healthy elder people.