Blood test: decoding PDW (norm and deviation)

It is difficult to find such a person who never had to face the need to take a clinical blood test. Decoding PDW in it can be confusing. Most likely, many have not even heard of it. A general blood test is the basic minimum of any examination with preventive examinations, before beginning any treatment, to clarify the diagnosis and register for pregnancy. This study provides a complete picture of the state of human health: inflammatory and infectious processes, anemia. So what do the indicators of clinical analysis in the blood, as usual for our hearing, and not so?

What is a blood test?

Blood is a biological fluid that penetrates every cell of the human body. It migrates through our body, therefore, by its state and chemical indices, one can see how healthy our body is. Based on the results of the analysis, the doctor evaluates how these or other organs and systems work. In the blood there are certain chemicals, the level of which for a specialist is indicative. Blood can be taken capillary and venous. Accordingly, the first surrenders from the finger, and the second - from the vein. The most common study is a general blood test. There are many other studies of this biological fluid in which you can see the level of sugar in it, the amount of necessary hormones, the state of the liver and other organs. Special attention is paid to hemoglobin in the blood. It is vitally important for a person, since it supplies all organs and cells with oxygen, without which various chemical reactions in them are hampered.

How to prepare for it?

To any laboratory research it is necessary to prepare. To give a blood test is better on an empty stomach, 8 hours before the analysis, excluding fat from the diet. To obtain reliable results, it is necessary to refrain from drinking alcohol before testing. For the delivery of a general blood test, special training is not required, since it will be informative without it. Other blood tests require a special regimen before analysis.

Information about our health by blood analysis

The clinical analysis of blood includes the determination of hemoglobin, leukocytes and formula, erythrocytes, platelets, ESR, if necessary - hematocrit, color index, beginning and end of coagulation.

The norm of erythrocytes in the general analysis of blood is 4.0 to 5.0 for the fair half of humanity, 4.5 to 5.5 for the stronger sex. These uniform elements of human blood are a biconcave plate. The erythrocyte lives 110-120 days. The number of red blood cells can be normal, high and low. An increase in the number of red blood cells is called erythrocytosis. It occurs mainly when the blood is thickened or the number of red blood cells increases. Reduced amounts of red blood cells are called erythropenia. It can occur after significant blood loss.

Hemoglobin is a part of the red blood cell. Measure it in order to learn about the degree of hemoglobin hemoglobin. It fills the blood with oxygen, which means it is important for breathing. The normal level of hemoglobin for men is the figure from 120 to 170 grams per liter. For women, a normal level of hemoglobin is considered to be from 110 to 150 grams per liter. If the patient has reduced hemoglobin, this condition is treated as anemia, which indicates a lack of iron and vitamin B in the body.12 Increasing hemoglobin is not so common. It can cause a thickening of the blood, it rises in athletes, with erythrocytosis, in people living in high mountains.

White blood cells are white blood cells. Normally their number varies from 4 to 9. Their main function is protective. With inflammatory, infectious and oncological malignant processes, this indicator increases, which is called leukocytosis. If the white blood cells are less than normal, then this condition is called leukopenia, which occurs after chemotherapy, lowering immunity and other pathologies in the body. Also important is the leukocyte formula: neutrophils, which normally make up 45 to 70 percent of all leukocytes, lymphocytes from 19 to 37 percent, monocytes from 3 to 10 percent, eosinophils 1-5 percent, basophils to 1 percent.

ESR - the rate of erythrocyte sedimentation - in normal women is 1 to 15 millimeters per hour, in men it is from 1 to 10 millimeters per hour. Increase often indicates an inflammatory, infectious or oncologic foci in the body.

Platelets are involved in the blood coagulation system, fibrinolysis. Thrombocytosis or an increase in the number of platelets in the body can indicate blood loss, observed after removal of the spleen, with myeloleukemia. Thrombocytopenia or a decrease in the number of platelets is an indicator of congenital and acquired pathologies of hematopoiesis.

What is PDW in a blood test?

Currently, there are more than twenty indicators that help the doctor to draw the most accurate conclusions about the patient's health. Among such a platelet index is PDW - a blood test, the transcript of which sounds like "the width of the platelet distribution by their volume". It characterizes the heterogeneity of various cells, including changes in their size. In other words, the blood corpuscles have different sizes, and it is the amount of macro- and micro-platelets that confirms this blood test. Decoding PDW helps to identify many serious pathologies in the body.

Blood for analysis should be taken on an empty stomach from a finger. The whole blood is placed in a test tube, in which an anticoagulant is added in advance. Currently, the study is conducted on analyzers, which in addition to this indicator can give another 24. It is very important to pass the clinical blood test correctly. The interpretation of PDW depends on the consideration of many circumstances, such as eating, overloading, pregnancy, menstrual cycle day. Therefore, you should donate blood on an empty stomach, exclude stress, heavy physical labor, do not conduct a study during menstruation.

There is also such a thing as taking SD index into a PDW blood test. The interpretation of PDW-SD, an indicator characterizing the heterogeneity of platelets, brings the result closer to an ideal accuracy. SD in this case is the standard deviation. It is taken into account when calculating the index.

Why do you need to know this indicator?

It's not a secret to anyone that it's very important to correctly interpret a blood test. Decoding PDW has an important diagnostic and prognostic significance. For example, the growth rate is taken into account in myelodysplastic diseases. Also, his abnormalities allow differentiation of anemia and other disorders in the body.

PDW: what is the norm in adults?

Normally in an adult, platelets are distributed by volume by 15-17 percent. In this indicator, slight deviations are allowed - up to one two percent, which depend on the individual characteristics of each organism.

Norm of indicator for children

When decoding all the parameters of a clinical blood test, the age of the patient is taken into account. The PDW index is also an exception - the blood test, the decoding, the norm in children of which is estimated in comparison with other indicators.

The PDW index is not yet sufficiently studied, but its data are taken into account when confirming many pathologies, especially malignant processes of blood and blood-forming organs in children. The average indices, which are normal for children under 18 years, range from 10 to 15 percent of the total platelet count.

PDW: a blood test (decoding). Increased level

Doing research is only half the battle: the correct interpretation of the blood test is important. The total PDW is increased in such pathologies as:

• Inflammatory processes;
• Large physical exertion;
• Disturbances in liver function;
• Heart disease;
• splenectomy;
• Malignant processes, especially with metastasis in the bone marrow;
• Serious hemorrhage;
• Lead poisoning;
• Various anemia;
• Treatment with corticosteroids;
• Alzheimer's disease;
• Postoperative period.

Physically, with PDW above the norm, a person will feel malaise and weakness, dizziness, and disability may decrease.

PDW: a blood test (decoding). Low level

At many pathologies to expose the correct diagnosis and to appoint adequate treatment helps definition not only increase, but also lowering of level PDW. Reduced this index is when:

• Leukemia;
• Radiation sickness;
• Myelodysplastic syndrome;
• DIC-syndrome;
• Viral diseases;
• Sepsis;
• Use of cytostatics;
• Megaloblastic anemia;
• Cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis.

In our time to have a common understanding of many things is important. But even more important is to assess your knowledge adequately. Having ideas and deep knowledge is not the same thing. Therefore it is necessary to understand that PDW is a blood test, a transcript, the norm and value of which is well known only to a specialist. The person himself does not need to make any serious conclusions about the studies and their indicators, you need to go to a medical institution.