Hematology and blood serum chemistry reference intervals for children in Iganga district of Uganda

Abstract

In this study, normalranges for hematology and serum biochemistry in children aged 1 to 5 years inUgandawere determined. By a cross-sectional study, 1168 children from Iganga, a prospective site for clinical trials in Uganda, were screened. From 1168 households, 460 children were selected for enrollment, while 600(58%) were excluded because of either a history of fever in the previous 24hours, presence of asexual malaria parasites in the peripheral blood orpresence of fever. Accordingly, 460 children (39.4%) of median age = 3 years wereenrolled in the baseline study. While the lower limits of hemoglobin,hematocrit levels, mean corpuscular volume and platelet counts for theUgandan children were found to be less than conventional reference values ofCaucasisan children, the white blood cell count reference values were higherthan the international intervals. On the other hand, the upper limits of thereference intervals for serum transaminases, bilirubin, creatinine, urea,total protein and albumin in sera of the Ugandan children were higher than thecorresponding values for a Caucasian pediatric population. This study showedthat, if hematology test results of the Ugandan children were assessedagainst “imported” international reference values, up to 44.6% of the studyparticipants would have been excluded from clinical trials or would have beenreported as adverse events in such trials. The present study was not only thefirst report of serum biochemistry reference ranges for children aged one tofive years in Uganda but also one of very few such studies in Africa.