Laboratory reference values of complete blood count for apparently healthy adults in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate reference intervals for complete blood cell count parameters among apparently healthy 1,807 adults from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Blood specimens were collected from each participant using standard procedures. The collected aliquots were processed according to standard operating procedures to determine participants' complete blood counts. Non-parametric methods were employed to calculate the reference intervals and 90% confidence intervals for complete blood counts. RESULTS: Overall the results show that reference ranges for women are lower than men. The white blood cell count, neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, and basophil reference values appear to be lower than values reported elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first comprehensive study on reference intervals of complete blood count among apparently healthy adults in Ethiopia. Future studies that assess other hematological parameters and studies that assess reference values for African pediatric populations are warranted.