A study of differential leucocyte count in different grades of anaemia

Abstract

Background and objective: Anaemia is the most common nutritional disorder in the world and iron deficiency is implicated in a majority of cases. Anaemia is associated with hypoxia and ischaemia and increased morbidity and mortality. It may be possible that ischaemia associated with anaemia may alter the leucocyte count. White blood cell count is regarded to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, vascular disease and total morbidity and mortality. WBC count has prognostic importance for both short term and long term survival. Iron deficiency is associated with impairment of cell mediated immunity and the bactericidal activity of neutrophils, thereby increasing the susceptibility to infections. Iron deficiency might play an important role in defence mechanism. The present study is carried out to assess the leucocyte profile in cases of anaemia, and thus early intervention would prevent from facing the possible complications in future. Material and Methods: Study group comprised of 50 subjects each in control, mild, moderate and severe anaemia. 2ml of venous blood was drawn and mixed with ethylene diamine tetra-acetic Acid (EDTA) . The haemoglobin(Hb) and differential leucocyte count(DLC) were measured using autoanalyser Results: There was significant increase in neutrophil and lymphocyte percentage in all grades of anaemia . There was also significant decrease in monocyte and eosinophil percentage in all grades of anaemia along with decrease in NLR. Conclusion: These results suggest that non specific immunity, humoral, cell-mediated and the activity of cytokines which have crucial roles in various steps of immunogenic mechanisms are influenced by the nutritional deficiency.