These are part of a larger battery of tests known as thecomplete blood count (CBC).
It also gives examples of commonly accepted reference ranges.
What Is a Complete Blood Count?
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The RBC indices are part of the largercomplete blood count (CBC).
In their totality, these values can tell a healthcare provider a lot about the state of your health.
This is the set of values between which a blood test result is considered normal.
It is validated through testing patients.
The reference range is based on the expected values within a given population.
Reference ranges may also vary depending on the equipment and testing methods used.
That said, always refer the laboratory-specific reference values provided with your results.
Therefore, not only does the reference range for hemoglobin differ but so does the diagnostic definition of anemia.
Normal values can also sometimes differ by age, biological sex, and even race.
As per its name, it simply counts the number of red blood cells in a sample of blood.
Along with the RBC count, theRBC indicesprovide information about the quality of your red blood cells.
The RBC indices look at specific components or characteristics of red blood cells, including their size and proportion.
Hemoglobin is also the protein that gives red blood cells their red color.
Acorpuscleis simply a term used to describe a living cell, particularly red and white blood cells.
The MCHC basically tells whether you have more or less hemoglobin than what would be expected.
A normal reference range for MCHC is between 32 and 36 g/dL in adults.
The MCV is measured in femtoliters (one thousand trillionths of a liter) per cell, or fL/cell.
A normal reference range for MCV is between 80 and 96 fL/cell.
This is callednormocytic anemia.
MCH is measured in picograms (one trillionth of a gram) per cell, or pg/cell.
A normal reference range for MCH is between 27 and 32 pg/cell.
The possible causes of low and high MCH tend to echo those of a low and high MCHC.
RDW values are described in percentages.
It is instead calculated as the standard deviation of red blood cell volume/mean cell volume) 100.
A normal reference range for RDW is 11.5% to 14.5%.
A low RDW means that red blood cells are not very different in size from typical measurements.
In short, the sizes and variability of red blood cells can indicate vastly different things.
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