Reference intervals for hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume in an ethnically diverse community sample of Canadian children 2 to 36 months

OBJECTIVE: To establish reference intervals for hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in an ethnically diverse community sample of Canadian children 36 months and younger. METHODS: We collected blood samples from young children at scheduled primary care health supervision visits at 2 weeks, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, and 36 months of age. Samples were analyzed on the Sysmex XN-9000 Hematology Analyzer. We followed the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines in our analysis. Data were partitioned by sex and also combined. We considered large age partitions (3 and 6 months) as well as monthly partitions. Reference intervals (lower and upper limits) and 90% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: Data from 2106 children were included. The age range was 2 weeks to 36 months, 46% were female, 48% were European and 23% were of mixed ethnicity. For hemoglobin, from 2 to 36 months of age, we found a wide reference interval and the 90% confidence intervals indicated little difference across age groups or according to sex. For MCV, from 2 to 7 months of age there was considerable decrease in the reference interval, which was lowest during the second year of life, followed by a slight increase in the last months of the third year of life. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest adoption of a single hemoglobin reference interval for children 2–36 months of age. Further studies in children under 4 months of age are needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: TARGet Kids! cohort is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. www.clinicaltrials.gov. Identifier: NCT01869530. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-021-02709-w.