Association of cord blood platelet count and volume with hemoglobin in healthy term infants

The aim of this study was to investigate relationships of cord blood cells in healthy term infants both from vaginal and Cesarean sections.

The study sample comprised 167 consecutive cord blood collections accepted for processing in an accredited cord blood bank. The effect of varying anticoagulant-to-blood ratio was excluded by standardizing the cell concentrations to reflect the values in native blood. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, simple linear regression analysis, Mann-Whitney U-test, cumulative frequency plots and Smirnov two-sample test.

As expected, hemoglobin correlated with red blood cell concentration. Interestingly, mean platelet volume was associated with hemoglobin, red blood cell concentration and hematocrit. The platelet count was inversely associated with the parameters.

The observed associations of cord blood hemoglobin with mean platelet volume and platelet count reflect the physiology of fetal hematopoiesis at term.