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 microliters for the absolute lymphocyte count, 559 to 2,333 cells per microliters for the absolute CD4 count, 253 to 1,396 cells per microliters 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/microliters), absolute CD4 counts (1,425 versus 1,154/microliters) and absolute CD4/CD8 ratios (2.58 versus 1.88) than did men. These reference ranges differ from those reported for populations outside Africa.