Haematological Values in Healthy Full-Term Nigerian Newborn Infants

Abstract

A study of haematological levels (haematocrits, reticulocyte and white cell counts) in healthy singleton full-term Nigerian neonates has shown significantly lower values than those of some previous reports but similar to others. The mean haematocrit of 60.8% on the 1st day dropped quite rapidly to 39.3% by the 4th week of birth. The mean reticulocyte count ranged from 3.8 to 1.9% on the 1st and 5th postnatal days, respectively. Adult level of less than 1 % was reached on the 6th day. Mean leucocyte count on the 1st day for males (12,400/mm³) was significantly lower than that for females (15,860/mm³). The mean total white cell count stabilized by the 3rd day at approximately 9,000/mm³ and showed no significant differences between the sexes beyond the 1st day values. The polymorphonuclear leucocytes and lymphocytes formed 61 and 36%, respectively, on the 1st day but by the 3rd day the lymphocytes were the predominant white cells.

Analysis of repeated hemoglobin measures in full-term, normal birth weight Kenyan children between birth and four years of age. III. The Asemobo Bay Cohort Project.

“…Prevalence of malarial infections at time of birth are presented in Table 3. The mean Hb levels obtained during the first 8 weeks of life were remarkably consistent with published reference values from normal Caucasian American, 22 Nigerian, 23 and Jamaican 24 populations ( Figure 2). However, in comparison with these reference populations, the standard deviations of mean Hb for the ABCP children were generally 0.8-1.3 g/ dL higher at each time point.…”

“…As observed in many other populations throughout the world, male infants 6-24 months old had mean Hb values Ͻ0.5 g/ dL below the female means (P ϭ 0.010). 23 Differences by sex disappeared after 24 months. The mean Hb level was also associated with village of residence.…”

“…Categorical variables were created for several maternal characteristics that did not change during the course of the study (timestationary covariates). These included maternal age at delivery (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), and Ն30 years old), education level (Յ3, 4-7, and Ն8 years), literacy (able to read a newspaper and write a letter), history of miscarriages and stillbirths (yes or no), gravidity (1, 2, and Ն3), number of live births (0-2, 3-6, and Ն7), and number of living offspring (0-2, 3-6, and Ն7). Environmental exposures included quality of house (high, medium, or low quality based on a summary score of type of door, floor, windows, walls, and roof), use of various vector-control measure at least 4 times per week (yes or no), and distance from the lake shore (Ͻ1.0, 1.0-1.9, 2.0-2.9, and Ն3 km).…”

Pattern of Leukocytes in the Blood of Healthy African Neonates

“…Effiong et al [9], in their study of Nigerian neo nates, found a mean WBC count of 12,400/mm3 and 15,860/mm3 on day 1 for males and females, respec tively. In the present study, we were unable to confirm any sex differences.…”

Hematological indices in febrile neonates with malaria parasitaemia in Calabar

“…Normal hematological indices in the newborn have been established in the Caucasians and have been found not to be the same for African neonates. 4 5 6 Studies done by Onwukeme et al . in Jos, 4 Scot-Emuakpor et al .…”