Hematological Reference Intervals for Healthy Iranian Blood Donors

Background: Development of locally-derived hematological reference intervals is necessary for improving the quality of health care and clinical trials. However hematological reference intervals are affected by several variables including age, gender and environmental factors. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the gender and age-specific hematological reference intervals of healthy Iranian blood donors. Materials and Methods: Selected hematological indices of 394 healthy blood donor volunteers, donating blood at Tehran Blood Transfusion Center were analyzed. Hematological reference intervals, stratified by age and gender were compared. The results of current study were also compared with those of US population. Results: There were significant gender-related differences for mean values of hematological indices, with males having higher mean values of RBC, HCG, HCT and MCV than females. While the mean of PLT and MCH were higher in women. Age-related differences for mean values of RBC and MCH were also significant. The comparison of reference intervals, stratified by both gender and age showed that RBC, HGB and HCT values were higher in males than females in all age groups. But MCH values of females in all age groups and WBC and PLT counts in females older than 30 years were higher compared to the males in the same age group. The results of this study showed some similarity with US population, with narrower intervals. Conclusion: This study suggests that gender and age-specific, locally derived hematological reference intervals should be referred to, before interpretation of any laboratory test result.