Immunohematological reference ranges for adult Ethiopians

A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 485 healthy working adult Eth iopians who are participating in a cohort study on the progression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection to establish hematological reference ranges for adult HIV-negative Ethiopians, In addition, enumerati on of absolute numbers and percentages of leukocyte subsets was performed f or 142 randomly selected HIV-negative individuals. Immunological results we re compared to those of 1,356 healthy HIV-negative Dutch blood donor contro ls. Immunohematological mean values, medians, and 95th percentile reference ranges were established. Mean values were as follows: leukocyte (WBC) coun ts, 6.1 x 10 degrees/liter (both genders); erythrocyte counts, 5.1 x 10(12) /liter (males) and 4.5 x 10(12)/liter (females); hemoglobin, 16.1 (male) an d 14.3 (female) g/dl; hematocrit, 48.3% (male) and 42.0% (female); platelet s, 205 x 10 degrees/liter (both genders); monocytes, 343/mu l; granulocytes , 3,057/mu l; lymphocytes, 1,8571 mu l; CD4 T cells, 775/mu l; CD8 T cells, 747/mu l; CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio, 1.2; T cells, 1,555/mu l; B cells, 191/mu l; and NK cells, 250/mu l. The major conclusions follow. (i) The WBC and pl atelet values of healthy IIIV-negative Ethiopians are low er than the adopt ed reference values of Ethiopia, (ii) The absolute CD4 T-cell counts of hea lthy HIV-negative Ethiopians are considerably lower than those of the Dutch controls, while the opposite is true for the absolute CD8 T-cell counts. T his results in a significantly reduced CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio for healthy Eth iopians, compared to the ratio for Dutch controls.