Haematologic profile of natural populations: red cell parameters.

Age-sex specific reference values and frequency distribution of erythrocyte parameters were derived from a representative sample of a natural population consisting of 1094 men and 1284 women between 10 and 96 years of age. Some differences have been found between previously reported reference values and those presented here, the importance of which lies not so much in their magnitude as in the fact that the latter are based upon a probability sample of a natural population unselected as to disease and are presented as percentile distributions by age and sex rather than as the more frequently used normal distribution. These results are intended for use as reference data both for clinical and for population estimates of haematological parameters.