Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart ailments are on the rise. Regular exercise and healthy eating can help to a large extent. However, the most accurate indicator of your health is undoubtedly a medical check up.

Laziness often prevents most people from undergoing a thorough medical examination. However, even a simple blood test can help identify serious medical conditions. Thus it's important that you learn the basics of reading a medical report and know when to contact the doctor.

The Complete Blood Count (CBC)

Let's examine the Complete Blood Count (CBC), which is often the first test most doctors ask patients to undertake when they're ill. It is used as a screening tool to diagnose diseases since it shows abnormalities in the blood cells, if any. The CBC test measures the following aspects of blood:

• RBC count: the number of red blood cells
• WBC count: the number of white blood cells
• Haemoglobin: the amount of Haemoglobin in the blood
• Haematocrit: the percent of blood made up of red blood cells
• Mean corpuscular value: size of the red blood cells
• Platelet count: number of platelets in the blood

Each of these measurements has a normal range. Your report will indicate the normal range for each measurement, and highlight abnormalities (usually in red). If your CBC measurements are within the normal range, you probably have nothing to worry about. However, abnormal readings can be symptoms of underlying illnesses, and may necessitate a visit to your doctor. Let's see what various abnormal readings may indicate.

RBCs:

If the RBC count exceeds the normal range, it may indicate conditions such as low oxygen tension in the blood (seen in cases of congenital heart disease), dehydration, or renal (kidney) disease. A lower than normal RBC count may indicate blood loss due to anaemia or hemorrhage, bone marrow failure, leukemia, RBC destruction, or malnutrition.

WBCs:

Higher than normal WBCs may indicate the presence of infection, leukemia, inflammatory illnesses such as arthritis, allergy, or even severe stress. Low WBC count may indicate autoimmune disease, bone marrow failure, liver or spleen disease, or radiation exposure.

Haematocrit:

A high Haematocrit may indicate dehydration, or low oxygen tension. Low Haematocrit can be due to anaemia, blood loss, bone marrow failure, leukemia, malnutrition, etc.

Haemoglobin:

A low Haemoglobin value may indicate anaemia (various types) or blood loss. Indian women especially tend to be anaemic and therefore have low Haemoglobin levels. However, chronic anaemia may also be the symptom of more serious underlying diseases.

Other Measurements:

In addition, the CBC may present a break up of the various types of WBCs in the blood such as neutrophils, band cells, T-type lymphocytes, B-type lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils. Abnormalities among these can also herald disease. For example, the eosinophils count increases in the presence of infections or allergic diseases.

Eosinophils:

Low eosinophils count may indicate alcohol in the blood. A high eosinophils count could indicate asthma, leukemia, hay fever, or autoimmune disease. In addition, certain medicines such as some brands of laxatives, antibiotics, appetite suppressants, etc. may also affect the eosinophils count.

A Word of Caution

The results of any medical examination, including the CBC are only indicative. Your doctor may prescribe additional tests on the basis of the results of the CBC or any other medical examination before he or she reaches a diagnosis. However, it also helps if you are aware of abnormalities in your medical reports. For example, if your report indicates anaemia and no other abnormalities, you may not need to visit a doctor, but rather, make a few changes in your diet. Do make sure that you don't go overboard with undergoing tests!

(Reference: U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, U.S.)

(With inputs from Dr. Ravindra Pandya, GP; Lab information from Bipin Diagnostics, Mumbai, Andheri).

Author: Archana Correa
(The author is a freelancer)