Umbilical cord blood as a replacement source for admission complete blood count in premature infants

Objective:we hypothesize that a complete blood count (cbc) with manual differential from umbilical cord blood is equivalent to a cbc with manual differential obtained from the neonate on admission.study design:a cbc and manual differential was performed on 174 paired umbilical cord blood and admission blood samples from infants <35 weeks gestation. paired t-test and pearson's correlation coefficient were the primary statistical tools used for data analysis.result:cord and admission blood white blood cell (wbc) count, hemoglobin and platelet count all significantly (p<0.0001) correlated with paired neonatal samples (r=0.82, 0.72, 0.76). admission blood wbc count fell within the variation of wbc count values from currently accepted neonatal admission blood sources. cord blood hemoglobin was not clinically different than admission hemoglobin (1.0 g dl−1). cord blood platelet counts were not different from admission blood platelet counts (5800 cells per μl, p=0.23). the immature to total granulocyte ratio was not different between samples (p=0.34).conclusion:umbilical cord blood can be used for admission cbc and differential in premature infants.