title: Correlation of routine haematological parameters between normal maternal blood and the cord blood of healthy newborns in selected hospitals of Karachi.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine any significant correlation between the routine haematological parameters of maternal blood and umbilical cord blood of their respective newborns.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at four public and private hospitals of Karachi including Sindh Government Qatar Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital, Liaquatabad, Ziauddin University Hospital and Chinniot Maternity and Child Hospital, respectively from July 2006 to April 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three milliliters venous blood was collected in EDTA containing tube for complete blood count of mothers before delivery. Five milliliters cord blood was collected from the umbilical cord of the babies immediately after delivery by clamping and cutting the babies' end of the cord. For haematological parameters a standard coultergram was done including haemoglobin, RBCs count, haematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell count, differential leukocyte count and platelet count. Pearson's correlation co-efficient was used to determine an association between the maternal and cord blood parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 404 maternal and umbilical cord blood samples were analyzed. All the blood parameters including haemoglobin, RBCs count, HCT, MCV, MCH, white blood cell count, differential leukocyte count and platelet count were found to be high in cord blood as compared to the maternal blood, but they showed a very weak to negligible correlation. Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), showed a moderate correlation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Routine haematological parameters of newborns are independent of maternal routine haematological parameters.
authors: Department of Basic Medical Sciences (Physiology), King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, NGHA, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. qaiser_danish@yahoo.com
authors: Danish Hasan
authors: DH
authors: Qaiser
authors: Mohammad Perwaiz
authors: MP
authors: Sandila
authors: Aamir
authors: A
authors: Omair
authors: Ghulam Moinuddin
authors: GM
authors: Ghori
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D006400:Hematocrit; D006403:Hematologic Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006454:Hemoglobins