Pregnancy-induced leucocytosis in Africans, Asians and Europeans.

In the light of widespread neutropenia in healthy Africans, an assessment was made of the magnitude of pregnancy-induced leucocytosis in 264 African women by comparing their haematological values at term with those of 47 European and Asian counterparts in Lusaka, Zambia. No statistically significant differences were found the absolute counts of neutrophils, lymphocytes, or eosinophils between the three races. The fact that pregnancy did not exaggerate the neutropenia, or hamper the leucocytosis response, would suggest that the African woman has a normal marrow which suffers from insufficient stimulation possibly as a result of some dietary factor.