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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Isolation of Leukocytes from the Human Maternal-fetal Interface
Published on: May 21, 2015
The white cell count in pregnancy and labour: a reference range
Raman Sivasankar1, R Anil Kumar, Rafal Baraz
1RIPAS Hospital, Brunei Darussalam .
Objective:
The white cell count (WCC) can be raised in pregnancy, but there is no published data-set to support a normal range. This study aimed to develop one.
Methods:
The WCC of 500 consecutive labouring women at term receiving regional anaesthesia and 500 consecutive women delivered at term by elective caesarean section were retrieved from an electronic database.
Results:
The mean and derived reference range at term with no labour was 8.9 × 10(9)/L (5-13 10(9)/L) and for the labouring group was 15.3 × 10(9)/L (5.3-25.3 × 10(9)/L). Fifteen women had a WCC > 25.3 × 10(9)/L (range 25.4-33.5 × 10(9)/L) not associated with severe sepsis.
Conclusion:
Two distinct normal ranges have been established to aid clinicians recognise normal and abnormal results.
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