Establishment of Immunohematological Reference Values among HIV Sero-negative Pregnant Women at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Normal pregnancy is characterized by profound changes in almost every organ and system. Immunohematological parameters are important in clinical practice for the assessment of health and disease. Therefore, this study was aimed to establish immunohematological reference range among HIV sero-negative pregnant women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among HIV sero-negative pregnant women at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 20/1–30/6/ 2016. Whole blood was collected and immunological and hematological parameters were measured following the standard procedure. Data were entered in to Epi Info version 3.5, checked for completeness and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. The mean ± SD and 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) values were calculated for different immunohematological parameters. RESULTS: A total of 400 women with mean age ±SD (27.3 ±4.7) ranging from 18–40 years were enrolled. The mean ± SD reference value of white blood cells count with 95% CI was 8.3 ±2.3 (8.1–8.6) ×10(9) cells/L and for CD4(+), CD8(+), and CD4 to CD8 ratio cells absolute count with 95% CI were 906 ±404 (867–946), 698± 378 (662–736) cell/µl, and 1.5±0.9 (1.4–1.6), respectively. The mean ± SD reference values for red blood cells count with 95% CI was 4.5±0.5(4.4–4.5) 10(12)/L, for hemoglobin 14±7.2(13.3–14.7) gm/dl, and for hematocrite was 39.5± 4(39–39.9). CONCLUSIONS: These values were lower than the one from developed countries but not lower than the one from other African studies. It suggests the need for further large study.