title: Comparison of hematologic measurements between local and central laboratories: data from the BABY HUG trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the concordance of blood count indices measured locally and at a central laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a multi-center clinical trial of hydroxyurea therapy in infants with sickle cell anemia (BABY HUG), the concordance between blood count indices measured locally and at a central laboratory was investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Local laboratory measurements of neutrophil and monocyte counts were significantly higher (44% and 37%, respectively) compared to the central measurements (p<0.0001), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was higher centrally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overnight shipping with processing delay causes spurious reductions in absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and absolute monocyte count (AMC) that may result in incorrect monitoring decisions in multicenter clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, MO, USA. rvkalpatthi@cmh.edu
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kalpatthi
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Winfred C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Niren
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kutlar
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luchtman-Jones
authors.forename: Scott T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000379:methods*; D006405:Hematology / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006918:Hydroxyurea / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007223:Infant; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D059021:Laboratory Proficiency Testing; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D009000:Monocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000737:chemistry; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D006918:Hydroxyurea