HEMATOLOGICAL REFERENCE RANGES AMONG HEALTHY UGANDANS

Reference values are essential for the interpretation of hematologic data in clinical practice and research studies. Symptom-free human immunodeficiency virus antibody-negative Ugandan adults (183 subjects, aged 15 to 74 years, 37.7% women and 62.3% men) were studied to establish hematological reference ranges. The central 95% areas under the distribution curves were 1,453 to 4,448 cells per mu l for the absolute lymphocyte count, 559 to 2,333 cells per mu l for the absolute CD4 count, 253 to 1,396 cells per mu l for the absolute CD8 count, and 0.68 to 4.4 for the CD4/CD8 ratio. Women had significantly higher mean absolute lymphocyte counts (2,826 versus 2,568/mu l), absolute CD4 counts (1,425 versus l,154/mu l), and absolute CD4/CD8 ratios (2.58 versus 1.88) than did men. These reference ranges differ from those reported for populations outside Africa.