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. 2017 Jul 31;39(4):306–317. doi: 10.1016/j.bjhh.2017.06.007

Table 2.

Sets of screening criteria.

Parameter Group 1
Narrow limits
Group 2
Intermediary limits
Group 3
Wide limits
Group 4
Adapted ISLH screening criteria16
Quantitative screening criteria
 Hemoglobin <9.5 g/dL or >18.0 g/dL <8.0 g/dL or >19.0 g/dL <7.5 g/dL or >20.0 g/dL <7.0 g/dL or >18.5 g/dL
 MCV <77 fL (adults) and <74 fL (children aged ≤12 years) or >100 fL <75 fL or >105 fL <74 fL or >105 fL <75 fL or >105 fL
 MCHC <31.5 g/dL <31.0 g/dL <30.0 g/dL <30 g/dL
 MCHC >36.5 g/dL >36.5 g/dL >36.5 g/dL >36.5 g/dL
 RDW-CV >17.0% >18.0% >19.0% >22.0%
 RDW-SD >60 fL >65 fL >70 fL
 Reticulocytes >0.150 × 106/μL or >2.5% >0.150 × 106/μL or >2.5% >0.150 × 106/μL or >2.5% >0.100 × 106/μL
 WBC <4.0 × 103/μL or >12.0 × 103/μL <3.5 × 103/μL or >15.0 × 103/μL <3.2 × 103/μL or >20.0 × 103/μL <4.0 × 103/μL or >30.0 × 103/μL
 Neutrophils # <1.8 × 103/μL or >7.0 × 103/μL <1.5 × 103/μL or >11.0 × 103/μL <1.0 × 103/μL or >15.0 × 103/μL <1.0 × 103/μL or >20.0 × 103/μL
 Neutrophils % <38% or >70% <35% or >80% <25% or >85%
 Lymphocytes # <0.8 × 103/μL or >5.0 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.8 × 103/μL or >7.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years) <0.8 × 103/μL or >5.0 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.8 × 103/μL or >7.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years) <0.5 × 103/μL or >5.0 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.5 × 103/μL or >7.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years) >5.0 × 103/μL (adults) and >7.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years)
 Lymphocytes % <20% or >50% <12% or >60% <8% or >70%
 Monocytes # <0.1 × 103/μL or >1.3 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.1 × 103/μL or >2.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years) <0.1 × 103/μL or >1.3 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.1 × 103/μL or >2.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years) <0.1 × 103/μL or >1.5 × 103/μL (adults) and <0.1 × 103/μL
>2.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years)
>1.5 × 103/μL (adults) and >3.0 × 103/μL (children aged ≤12 years)
 Monocytes % <1% or >12% <1% or >16% <1% or >20%
 Eosinophils # >2.0 × 103/μL >2.5 × 103/μL >2.5 × 103/μL >2.0 × 103/μL
 Eosinophils % >20% >25% >30%
 Basophils # >0.3 × 103/μL >0.3 × 103/μL >0.5 × 103/μL >0.5 × 103/μL
 Basophils % >2% >2% ≥3%
 Platelets <100 × 103/μL or >600 × 103/μL <100 × 103/μL or >800 × 103/μL <90 × 103/μL or >1000 × 103/μL <100 × 103/μL or >1000 × 103/μL
 MPV >12.0 fL >12.5 fL ≥13.0 fL ≥12.5 fL



Qualitative screening criteria
 Suspect flags Immature granulocytes?
Left shift?
Atypical lymphocytes?
Abnormal lymphocytes/blasts?
Blasts?
Nucleated red blood cells?
Fragments? (schistocytes)
Dimorphic RBC population (erythrocyte population heterogeneous in size)
Lyse resistant RBC
Platelet clumps? (generated by scatter gram)
Platelet clumps (S)? (generated by the impedance channel)
Turbidity/hemoglobin interference? Hemoglobin defect? Spurious hemoglobin measurement
 ALL MBSR if newborn
 (*) and (----) These symbols beside the counts on the readout indicate that automated counts are not reliable or not available for the sample in question, respectively

ISLH: International Society for Laboratory Hematology; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; RDW-CV: red blood cell distribution width coefficient of variation; RDW-SD: red blood cell distribution width standard deviation; RBC: red blood cells; WBC: white blood cells; MPV: mean platelet volume; MBSR: manual blood smear review.

Note: The terms narrow, intermediary and wide limits refer to their relative and absolute overall amplitudes in relation to the lower and upper limits of the complete blood count reference values.