Background: Blood cell parameters in a healthy population of different ages and genders from the Daxingan region of Inner Mongolia were evaluated to establish reference intervals (RIs) for venous blood parameters for healthy individuals from this region.
Methods: Venous blood specimens were collected from 1757 healthy individuals aged 7-65 years and analyzed by an XE-5000 automated hematology analyzer. Results were statistically analyzed by gender and age group. RIs for venous blood parameters of children were compared to the National Clinical Laboratory Procedures and those of adults were compared to the Health Industry Standards of the People's Republic of China (WST405-2012).
Results: In the Daxingan region, WBC, RBC, MCV, and NEUT%, MONO%, and EO% of healthy children were significantly different between genders (p < 0.05). Other parameters were not significantly different (p > 0.05). All parameters of adults were significantly different between different genders (p < 0.05) except for LYMPH% and BASO%. Comparison of mean values between children and adults of the same gender revealed significant differences in each blood cell parameter (p < 0.05). RBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, PLT, MONO%, and BASO% of adult men were significantly different between different age groups (p < 0.05), and HGB, HCT, and EO% of adult women were significantly different between different age groups (p < 0.05). For children, only the mean of MCHC and EO% were close to the National Clinical Laboratory Procedures. Mean of RBC, HGB, PLT, LYMPH%, and MONO% were higher and the remaining parameters were lower than the National Clinical Laboratory Procedures. Compared with WST405-2012 for adults, PLT of women aged 18-40 years and NEUT% of adults were higher, whereas the mean of EO% and BASO% were significantly lower.
Conclusions: RIs for venous blood parameters change with age, geographic region, ethnic group, and gender. There is a great necessity to establish RIs for venous blood parameters among the healthy population in the Daxingan region.