Blood count and your normal values

The blood count is the part of analytics that analyzes various blood parameters, such as red blood cells, defense cells or white blood cells, as well as platelets and clotting factors.

The doctor will request one or the other depending on what you want to investigate. However, since one has to be performed, it is used the vast majority of times to evaluate a series of parameters, such as blood glucose, kidney and liver function or cholesterol and blood count.

Hematology laboratories have a series of methodological tools that allow to validate the results of the parameters in an automatic way, however, there is nothing to replace that one of the laboratory evaluates more subtle alterations in the shape of the cells that the analyzers cannot detect. Likewise, it should be noted that normality parameters may vary slightly from one laboratory to another and variations from normality should always be evaluated by your doctor.

Values ​​and results of a blood count

The clinical context of the patient is essential to be able to interpret a CBC. Therefore, it is not enough to know the reference values ​​that are always given in the laboratory results sheet. Broadly speaking, within a hemogram we assess:

Red series

In the red series we essentially value the number of red blood cells what's in the blood the percentage of blood they occupy, the amount of hemoglobin that each one has on average, its shape and volume, among other parameters. These parameters allow us to study states of anemia, among other diseases.

• Red blood cells: total number of red blood cells, ranging from 4.5-5.9 million / mm3 in men and 4-5.2 million / mm3 in women.
• Hematocrit: the percentage of the volume of the red blood cells with respect to the total volume of blood, whose values ​​are 41-53% in men and 35-46% in women.
• Hemoglobin: the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, the levels of which are 13.5-17.5 g / dl in men and 12-16 gr / dl in women.
• Mean corpuscular volume (MCV): assesses the mean size of the red blood cells, which ranges from 80 and 100 ml.
• Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (HCN): amount of hemoglobin that red blood cells have on average, ranging from27 and 33 pgr.

White series

Your study allows us assess states of infection or impaired immunity. The values ​​are not differentiated according to gender and are expressed both in total numbers and in percentages of the type of leukocytes. The most common parameters studied are:

• Leukocytes: total white blood cells in the blood; their values ​​usually oscillate between 4,000-10,000 / mm3
• Neutrophils- A type of white blood cell that is generally elevated with bacterial infections; its reference values ​​are 2,000-7,500 / mm3 or 40-75%.
• Lymphocytes: a class of white blood cells that is elevated especially in viral infections and that produce antibodies; its normality values ​​are 1,500-4,000 / mm3 or 20-45%.
• Monocytes: a type of leukocyte that once active becomes a macrophage, which is responsible for phagocytosis, that is, "eating" various microorganisms; its reference values ​​are 200-800 / mm3 or 2-10%.
• Eosinophils: a class of leukocytes that is activated by allergic reactions or the presence of microorganisms that cannot be phagocytosed; its reference values ​​are 40-400 / mm3 or 1-3%.
• Basophils: leukocytes also involved in the management of allergic reactions; its reference values ​​are 10-100 / mm3 or less than 1%.

Platelets and clotting ability

When with a blood count we want to assess the clotting ability of the patient there are several parameters that we evaluate:

• Platelets, which indicates the total number of these cells in the blood, whose reference parameters range from 150,000 and 400,000 per mm3.
• Activated partial thromboplastin time o APTT o APTT o Cephalin time: assesses one of the coagulation pathways, what we call the intrinsic pathway, and its reference values ​​range between 20 and 40 seconds.
• Prothrombin time o PT o PT: assesses the time it takes for a blood clot to form; its normality value ranges from 10 to 12.5 seconds.
• Fibrinogen: a fibrin precursor protein, which forms the meshwork to which platelets bind to form the clot and whose normal values ​​are of 200-400 mg / dl.

Therefore, it is advisable to always read a blood count without jumping to hasty conclusions and always, before an altered value, consult a doctor that you have requested such analytics from us.

• The blood count It is the part of the analysis that evaluates various parameters of the blood, such as red blood cells, defense cells or white blood cells, as well as platelets and clotting factors.
• The clinical context of the patient is essential To be able to interpret a blood count, it is not enough to know the reference values, which are always given in the results sheet that the laboratory issues.
• It is advisable to always read a blood count without jumping to hasty conclusions and always, when faced with an altered value, consult with the doctor that you have requested such analytics from us.