Peripheral Blood Findings in Normal Individuals

Abstract

This work was carried out in the Clinical Pathology department of Assiut University Hospital on randomly selected and apparently healthy individuals who are attending the blood bank for donation. It involved a total of 2891 subjects that were 1989 males and 902 females, most of them were university students with age ranged from 18-30 • ' years. They represented. all socio-economic groups and different localities of our community. This work was intended to establish the reference values both for clinical and population estimates of the hematologic parameters, and the extent of variation to detect any changes related to minor health abnormalities. In addition, verification of the already described differentiation of anemia (based on the MCV and the RDW) as applied to similar conditions in Egyptians. The studied individuals were subjected to thorough clinical history and examination, and routine laboratory investigations. They included complete peripheral hemogram using mainly coulter counter STKS model 1989 (Coulter Electronics Hialeah, FL) and to lesser extent Cell Dyn 3500 (Abbott Mountain view CA), examination of the blood films, reticulocyte count, detection of HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV (1+2) using ELISA technique, and detection of syphilis using RPR test. Additional tests were perfonned for hemoglobin typing and quantitation: brilliant cresyl blue test for detection of Hb H inclusions, sickle cell preparation using sodium metabisulphite and Hb electrophoresis (alkaline pH 8.6) on a garose gel using Hydrasys (Sebia-France).