The white cell count in pregnancy and labour: a reference range

Abstract

Objective: The white cell count (WCC) can be raised in pregnancy, but there is no published data-set to support a normal range. This study aimed to develop one.

Methods: The WCC of 500 consecutive labouring women at term receiving regional anaesthesia and 500 consecutive women delivered at term by elective caesarean section were retrieved from an electronic database.

Results: The mean and derived reference range at term with no labour was 8.9 × 10⁹/L (5–13 10⁹/L) and for the labouring group was 15.3 × 10⁹/L (5.3–25.3 × 10⁹/L). Fifteen women had a WCC > 25.3 × 10⁹/L (range 25.4–33.5 × 10⁹/L) not associated with severe sepsis.

Conclusion: Two distinct normal ranges have been established to aid clinicians recognise normal and abnormal results.

• Maternal sepsis
• sepsis bundle
• systemic inflammatory response

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.