Immunohematological reference ranges for adult Ethiopians

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Immunology
• Public Health

Background:

• Establishing accurate hematological and immunological reference ranges is crucial for diagnosing and managing health conditions in diverse populations.
• Previous reference values for healthy adult Ethiopians may not accurately reflect current physiological norms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish comprehensive hematological and immunological reference ranges for healthy, HIV-negative adult Ethiopians.
• To compare these ranges with those of HIV-negative Dutch controls to identify potential population-specific differences.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey of 485 healthy working adult Ethiopians.
• Enumeration of leukocyte subsets in 142 randomly selected HIV-negative individuals.
• Comparison of immunohematological data with 1,356 healthy HIV-negative Dutch blood donor controls.

Main Results:

• Established mean values and 95th percentile reference ranges for various blood cell counts, including leukocytes, erythrocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and platelets.
• Identified lower white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts in healthy HIV-negative Ethiopians compared to existing Ethiopian reference values.
• Observed significantly lower absolute CD4 T-cell counts and higher absolute CD8 T-cell counts in Ethiopians compared to Dutch controls, resulting in a reduced CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio.

Conclusions:

• The established reference ranges provide a vital baseline for healthy adult Ethiopians.
• Significant differences in CD4 and CD8 T-cell counts and the CD4/CD8 ratio exist between healthy Ethiopians and Dutch populations.
• These findings highlight the importance of population-specific reference ranges in clinical immunology and hematology.