A comparison of the haematological values of cord bloods of African, European and Asian neonates.

A comparative study of the haematological values of 162 African and forty-one Asian and European cord bloods was conducted in Lusaka, Zambia, to determine whether neutropenia found in the majority of healthy African adults was present at birth. No significant differences in the total W.B.C., neutrophil and lymphocyte values of the three racial groups were found, from which it is concluded that Africans are not born with neutropenia. A review of previous studies, shows that as Africans changed from native to European type of diets, the incidence of neutropenia fell remarkably (in one community, from 88% to 27%), and no other environmental factors like hot climate or occult infections had such an effect. Absence of neutropenia in Africans at birth thus strengthens the case that this development in later life is acquired.