Intervalos de referencia para analitos de química clínica y parámetros hematológicos en sangre capilar de recién nacidos del Hospital Materno Provincial “Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini”

Abstract

A reference value is an analytical result obtained from a healthy reference individual of the community. It is very important that each institution determines reference intervals for the population attending its clinical laboratory and that these intervals are reviewed regularly. The aim of this study was to establish reference intervals for analytes of clinical chemistry and haematological parameters in healthy newborns born at term at the Provincial Maternity Hospital “Dr. Raúl Felipe Lucini”, Córdoba, Argentina. A prospective study was conducted with 253 blood samples from 2- to 5-day-old newborns, who were healthy and born at term, based on the guidelines of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) to determine reference intervals in the clinical laboratory. The reference intervals established were: Phosphorus (4.6 – 9.1) mg/dl; Calcium (8.2 – 11.9) mg/dl; Magnesium (1.9 – 2.7) mg/dl; Alkaline Phosphatase (105 - 287) U/l; Total Protein (5.3 – 7.5) g/dl; Albumin (3.2 - 5) g/dl; White Blood Cells (7.5 – 21.7) x 109/l; Red Blood Cells (42 – 6.4) x 1012/l; Haemoglobin (14.3 - 22.8) g/dl; Hematocrit (41 - 64) %; Mean Corpuscular Volume (91 - 107) fl; Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (31 - 37) pg and Platelets (161 - 387) x 109/l. Having reference intervals of the neonatal population is vital to increase the reliability of medical decisions. The establishment of reference intervals in our institution will help to improve the quality of neonatal care.