The child's hematocrit is normal: 1. The child's hematocrit is low. When should you check your hematocrit?

5 minutes to read. Views 1.1k.

A general blood test is performed to determine the child's health status. This test is performed to monitor blood flow and eliminate the possibility of changes in blood parameters. A child’s hematocrit can be reduced for a variety of reasons; its design depends on age, gender and some other physiological characteristics of the body. If a deviation has been identified in children, then it is necessary to respond to the changes in a timely manner.

The norm and what is a deviation

Immediately after the birth of the child, his analyzes are studied in detail. This is done in order to exclude the possibility of congenital pathologies. Do not forget that a child’s blood composition at 3 months cannot be the same as that of an adult.

Over time, the child’s body begins to adapt to the world around it, and the composition of cells begins to change. For a newborn, the hematocrit should be 44-62%, which is a higher value compared to an adult.

During the first 8-10 years, the indicator can be low or high, 37-44% is considered the norm. Changes begin as the child enters puberty. During this period, it is recommended to undergo periodic tests to constantly monitor the composition of the blood, since it should not be too thick.

Children under one year old undergo periodic checks. This is due to the fact that changes can occur almost every week. Afterwards, blood donation is performed every few years. When breastfeeding, the baby's body is also influenced by the condition of the mother.

How often do you get your blood tested?

Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Only as prescribed by the attending physician 30%, 949 votes

Once a year and I think that’s enough 18%, 554 vote

At least twice a year 15%, 460 votes

More than twice a year but less than six times 11%, 344 vote

I take care of my health and donate once a month 6%, 197 votes

I'm afraid of this procedure and try not to pass 4%, 135 votes

21.10.2019

A decrease in level to 25% indicates that the blood is too thin or blood loss is occurring in the body. To determine the reasons, repeated tests are carried out.

Why is the level lowered?

A decrease in hematocrit in a child can occur for a variety of reasons. The most common are the following:

Disorders occurring in the human bone marrow.
Increased amount of proteins in the blood.
Blood density is too thin.
Anemia of varying complexity and origin.
Various diseases that cause the breakdown of red blood cells.
Various infectious diseases.
Kidney failure.
Various liver problems.

Prolonged bed rest can also cause a drop in this indicator. An insufficient level of physical activity is compensated by a proper diet. When conducting a blood test, attention is often paid to how the hematocrit level correlates with hemoglobin. A false result may be obtained if blood is collected incorrectly.

Anemia

Infants and children of other ages may develop anemia. The features of this problem are the following:

Anemia means that hemoglobin is lower than normal. This moment causes a significant decrease in the number of red blood cells in the blood.
Hemoglobin is an important iron-containing protein, which means it is responsible for transporting oxygen to the body's tissues.

There are many reasons for this problem. Symptoms may include dry and pale skin, and a lack of sufficient protein causes the digestive system to malfunction.

Overhydration

The hematocrit in the blood is also reduced in the case of an excess amount of water, which may be contained in the entire body or individual parts. Overhydration is associated with the following symptoms:

Clinical symptoms include swelling of the extremities and excess fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity.
Some conditions in this condition can be life-threatening for the child. The disease in question causes heart rhythm disturbances and disruption of the digestive system.

To determine the cellular composition of the blood, a detailed laboratory study is required. If a child has a low hematocrit, this indicates the presence of pathology, serious internal disorder and obvious health problems.

If the hematocrit is low in an infant, this indicates that the number of red blood cells is limited and does not correspond to the norm; the course of a pathological process in the child’s body cannot be ruled out. Ideally, at the age of 3 months - 1 year, this figure reaches 36 - 44%, but what to think if there is a deviation from the norm?

Causes and symptoms of decreased hematocrit

Pregnant women should not worry, since in an “interesting situation” such deviations are considered acceptable. But young mothers need to pay attention if the hemoglobin and hematocrit in the newborn’s blood are low. For example, values of 20 - 25% are considered abnormal and require additional diagnostics and determination of the etiology of the pathological process.

Among the predisposing factors that only contribute to the decline of this enzyme, the following should be highlighted:

Anemia;

Excessive blood volume in the child’s body;

Liquid blood and accelerated systemic blood flow;

Acute bleeding;

Delayed formation of red blood cells in the bone marrow;

Increased rate of red blood cell breakdown.

This is a real problem for the child’s body, since the symptoms that accompany such a deviation reduce the quality of life and disrupt the physical development of the child according to the age category. For example, young patients do not look well, and pale skin, arrhythmia and shortness of breath often alarm anxious parents. Such children have no appetite, and their behavior is characterized by passivity, phlegmatism, lethargy and lack of initiative.

If the hematocrit is low in a 3-month-old child, then the appearance of the baby alone becomes a good reason to make an appointment with the local pediatrician. It is better not to delay diagnosis, otherwise diseases progressing in the body will only worsen overall health and lead to disability.

Children at risk

If the hematocrit of an infant is low, then extensive medical practice must find an explanation for this pathological process. For example, those newborns and infants who are characterized by rapid growth and weight gain are at risk. The problem also extends to those young patients who experience acute iron deficiency due to poor nutrition.

Moreover, a reduced hematocrit can become a complication of internal diseases expressed at birth. Most often this is renal and liver failure, when a clinical patient at such a young age is in dire need of immediate resuscitation measures. If it is possible to cure the underlying disease, the hematocrit will soon stabilize on its own.

Now it is clear which children are concentrated in the “risk group”, so the main task of parents is to eliminate all pathogenic factors from the baby’s routine. Otherwise, normalizing the general condition will be very problematic.

Effective treatment

A low blood color index in a child is a problem that needs to be eliminated. It is very difficult to talk about effective drug treatment, since taking strong pills at this age is simply contraindicated in most cases.

To normalize the hematocrit, it is necessary to replace the children's diet by adding a significant amount of iron. This can be natural vegetables and fruits for infants over 6 months old, or a fortified artificial mixture for newborns and children in the first months of life.

Older children can be given the well-known Hematogen, which is sold in every pharmacy, for treatment and prevention. Any medications must be prescribed by a local physician, and multivitamin complexes are no exception to this rule. An excessive dosage, as is known, can be harmful, and superficial self-medication can even cause serious problems in the body.

Based on the results of a general blood test, many indicators can be determined, including finding out whether a child’s hematocrit is low or high.

This test is important primarily to monitor blood flow and prevent blood thickening.

Hematocrit depends on age, gender and some physiological characteristics of the body. If the indicator is low, then it is important to find the reasons and stabilize the level of red blood cells.

As soon as the child is born, his tests are studied to exclude congenital pathologies or emerging diseases.

It is important for parents to understand that the blood composition of a 2-month-old baby cannot be the same as that of an adult. Normally, all indicators should be increased.

Over time, the child's body adapts to the world around it, and the ratio of cells changes. In the case of hematocrit in a child, the norm for a newborn is 44 - 62%.

This is a very high percentage when compared with the results of an adult. But when a baby’s hematocrit is low after birth, we can talk about serious problems.

After 2-3 months, the level of red blood cells drops to 32 - 44%, and closer to a year it is 36 - 44%.

This may simply be a feature of a particular organism and not cause a worsening of the condition.

During the first 8 to 10 years, the hematocrit should not be significantly reduced or increased. The norm is a result of 37 - 44%.

Changes begin when a child enters puberty. In girls, after the onset of menstruation, the red blood cell count will be reduced (34 - 44%) compared to boys (35 - 45%).

During this period, it is important to monitor hematocrit levels to ensure that the cardiovascular system is functioning properly and the blood is not too thick.

As is known, it is during adolescence that an increased load on the heart occurs, which can provoke various pathologies in adulthood.

Why is the hematocrit level low in children?

If the level of red blood cells is reduced to 25% or less, this indicates that the blood is thinner than necessary, or that blood loss is occurring in the body.

To figure out what are the reasons that the hematocrit is low and what this means, the child’s blood is taken again for analysis.

Among the most common causes of low hematocrit are the following:

disorders in the bone marrow that lead to insufficient formation of red blood cells;
hyperproteinemia – the protein content in the child’s blood is increased;
overhydration is a physiological feature of the body in which the blood is too thin;
anemia of varying levels of complexity and origin;
bleeding caused by injury or disease;
blood diseases in which the rate of breakdown of red blood cells increases;
renal failure and some infectious diseases;
liver problems or cancer.

A low hematocrit in a child can be caused by prolonged bed rest, insufficient levels of physical activity or diet: poor nutrition and prolonged fasting.

A low hematocrit in itself does not always indicate problems. Its indicators are usually correlated with hemoglobin levels.

This allows you to more accurately determine the causes of low hematocrit and prescribe appropriate treatment.

You will get a false result if blood was taken for analysis incorrectly.

Taking medications, untreated illnesses or injuries that cause blood loss are the reasons that cause changes in indicators.

Such analysis results will only complicate the diagnosis and interfere with treatment.

A separate group consists of children who are too tall and underweight. Their heart load is greater than others, and often the body does not receive sufficient quantities of nutrients.

For such a child, control of the hematocrit level should be increased by both parents and doctors.

What to do if your red blood cell count is low?

If the hematocrit level in children is low, then this is not as dangerous as its increase, but treatment is still required.

For a child, blood composition is an indicator of both development and susceptibility to diseases; it depends on many factors.

First of all, you should pay attention to the baby’s diet and the range of foods he eats.

For children who have low hematocrit and hemoglobin, it would be useful to use hematogen. It’s sweet, so you won’t have to spend a lot of time persuading your little one to eat this “candy.”

But still, before this, it is better to consult a doctor, since hematogen is a drug, and its excessive use can harm the child.

For children under 2 years of age who are breastfed, the concentration of red blood cells depends on the mother's diet.

If there is not enough iron in milk, then the hematocrit in the blood will be reduced. Proper and timely complementary feeding is also of great importance.

At the age of one and a half to two years, the baby must eat meat and dairy dishes, and also spend a lot of time in the fresh air.

Unfortunately, sometimes a child’s hematocrit is low not due to poor nutrition. The reason may be hidden in pathological conditions and diseases.

Naturally, pathologies are more difficult to eliminate. The most important thing is to make a timely diagnosis and start treatment as early as possible.

Most likely, additional tests and diagnostics of the whole body will be required. It is important for parents not to panic and carefully follow the recommendations of doctors.

A low hematocrit in a child, especially under 2 years of age, does not always indicate illness. Its level must be considered together with the hemoglobin level.

During the development of a child, growth spurts occur, during which the number of red blood cells will decrease.

In small children, especially in the first 2-3 months, the hematocrit should not be reduced. On the contrary, it exceeds the indicators of adults.

Tests must be taken regularly to monitor the composition of the blood, on which the proper functioning of the entire body depends.

By determining the percentage of blood plasma and a suspension of its formed elements, you can get a fairly broad understanding of the general condition of the body at the time of the examination. Very often, a reduced hematocrit in laboratory tests indicates the development of hematocrit, so such results cannot be ignored. And so, we’ll figure out with you why a low hematocrit is dangerous in a man, woman and your child, what its norm is according to a person’s age and gender.

Norm

The hematocrit number is usually calculated as a percentage. However, in recent years, with the increasing use of special equipment - hemoanalyzers - in laboratory practice, there has been a transition to the use of other units of measurement. Modern laboratory equipment calculates hematocrit in l/l.

The hematocrit norm is a value that depends on gender and age category.

change over the first six years, showing a downward trend:

only born children – 33 – 65%;
children under 1 year – 33 – 44%;
children aged 1 – 5 years – 32 – 41%;
children over 6 years old – 33 – 44%.

male population aged 18 – 45 years – 39 – 49%;
male population over 45 years old – 40 – 50%;
female population 18 – 45 years old – 35 – 45%;
women over 45 years old – 35 – 47%.

From a therapeutic point of view, it is acceptable to identify a decreased blood pressure, since this is associated with an increase in the volume of circulating blood in a woman’s body against the background of an unchanged quantitative composition of formed blood cells.

Causes

Very rarely, a decrease in hematocrit in laboratory tests is due to physiological factors.

Usually, the decrease in men is due to the progression of pathological disorders in the body:

massive blood loss as a result of various injuries, internal bleeding of various etiologies;
fanatical adherence to diets without consultation with a nutritionist;
impairment of motor activity, forced adherence to bed rest for a long period of time;
, in which there is a disruption in the formation of new red blood cells;
genetic diseases that lead to structural damage to blood cells and disruption of their life span;
decreased properties of the blood coagulation system;
caused by oncological lesions of the circulatory system;
retention of a large amount of fluid in the body - hyperhydration, which is observed in diseases of the urinary system, with the development of infectious processes, during infusion therapy;
as one of the possible complications of the second half of pregnancy.

Based on other examinations, the doctor has the opportunity to assume that a patient with reduced hematocrit values has the following diseases:

types of anemia that are accompanied by a decrease in the number of red blood cells;
malignant forms of oncological diseases of the hematopoietic system;
the presence of chronic foci of inflammation in the body;
of various etiologies;
kidney and liver diseases.

Is a decrease in the rate dangerous for children?

Initially, the norm of hematocrit number in childhood is higher than in adults, so a reduced level of hematocrit in a child’s blood immediately alerts specialists. Such results of a blood test may be the first signs of the development of pathological disorders in a child’s body, such as:

slowing down the formation of new red blood cells in the bone marrow;
accelerated processes;
increasing the concentration of proteins in the blood;
increased blood volume;
development of an anemic state.

It is especially dangerous to detect a decrease in the hematocrit number in an infant, since the tendency at this age to generalize any pathological disorder can lead to the development of extremely severe complications.

If such abnormalities are detected in a blood test in children, it is urgent to conduct a thorough examination of all systems and organs of the child in order to differentiate the exact cause of low hematocrit. Timely diagnosis and initiation of treatment measures are the key to a positive prognosis for the course of diseases in children.

Conclusion

There is a certain category of the population in which it is possible to predict a violation of the functional abilities of the circulatory system. Knowing that they belong to a high-risk group, these people can take care in advance to take certain preventive measures that will significantly reduce the risk of a decrease in hematocrit and other parameters in a blood test. This category includes pregnant women, people with chronic pathologies of the cardiovascular system, people with impaired motor activity, who are forced to remain in bed for a long time. Also, a decrease in hematocrit in the body can occur in rapidly growing children if their diet is not balanced.

It is impossible to establish a diagnosis based only on laboratory examination data and determination of hematocrit indicators in them. A decrease in the hematocrit number in a man, woman and child requires additional examination in order to find out the true reasons that provoked this condition.

The materials are published for informational purposes only and are not a prescription for treatment! We recommend that you consult a hematologist at your medical institution!

There is no doubt that the safety and health of the child is a priority for all parents. But not everyone has heard about hematocrit and knows what this blood indicator means. Meanwhile, back at the beginning of the 20th century, the great healer Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov said that all diseases come from poor circulation and poor blood quality.

Hematocrit is an indicator that determines the number of red blood cells (red cells) in the blood. This standard is measured as a percentage of the volume of blood taken during a general analysis. The blood's suitability for transporting oxygen is diagnosed using GM parameters.

Normal hematocrit indicators

The percentage of hematocrit in laboratories equipped with modern technology is determined automatically. And some 20 years ago, to carry out this analysis, centrifuges and glass tubes with a graduated scale were required (the GM level was calculated using it).

Hypoxia is one of the reasons for deviations in hematocrit in newborns

Back in 1997, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Alexander Moiseevich Vein defined standards for GM indicators in healthy children. This norm directly depends on the age of the child:

Newborns - 51±9%;
1 month - 43±12%;
6 months - 35±6%;
1 year - 36±3%;
From 2 to 6 years - 37±3%;
From 6 to 12 years - 40±5%;
From 12 to 18 years - 42±6%.

Elevated pediatric hematocrit

There are two main mechanisms, as a result of which increased GM is observed. The first is due to the fact that the number of formed elements increases relative to the plasma. And the second is when the number of plasma decreases relative to the formed elements. Moreover, the signs of these mechanisms will be different.

Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) - this diagnosis is made as a result of the first mechanism. The prerequisites for its diagnosis are: respiratory tract diseases, stress conditions, lack of water or oxygen during the birth period. Under such unfavorable conditions, the body increases the production of red blood cells to increase hemoglobin.

Redness of the skin is a symptom of hypoxia. This is usually observed in newborns. This condition in infants goes away with adaptation after the intrauterine period. If a child’s hematocrit is increased due to hypoxia, then this cannot be considered a pathology and such children do not need treatment.

Blood diseases ( coagulation abnormality) - this diagnosis is associated with increased blood thickness and clotting. In this case, as with hypoxia, the first mechanism of increasing GM operates.

Diagnosis: dehydration ( body dehydration) - placed due to the action of the second mechanism. The main causes of dehydration are all kinds of infectious diseases (mainly associated with the gastrointestinal tract) and burns of varying degrees of severity.

Manifestation of symptoms

The main symptoms of the disease:

pale skin;
dry skin;
constant feeling of thirst.

Important! If a decrease in body weight is recorded (more than 3%), then it is necessary to immediately go to the doctor, since this is already a cause that threatens the child’s life.

For mild dehydration, measures to stabilize hematocrit can be taken at home. Their essence lies in taking, according to certain rules, electrolyte solutions. The patient should be given drinks frequently, but in small volumes: 2-3 sips every 15-20 minutes throughout the day. In addition, you need to carefully monitor your child's urination. Fluid losses should not exceed 80% of consumed. In a clinical setting, infusion therapy is performed (drips are placed) to restore fluid balance.

Decreased hematocrit level

The mechanisms for the implementation of a decreased hematocrit are polar to the mechanisms of an increased one. In the first case, the number of formed elements decreases against the background of a normal amount of plasma. And the second is to increase the volume of plasma with a normal number of formed elements.

Overhydration (triggered by the first mechanism) is a disease inverse to dehydration associated with excess fluid in the body, usually due to malfunction of the kidneys. When a child has hyperhydration, symptoms manifest themselves in the form of edema. They can be visualized on the baby's face and limbs.

Important. In cases where swelling is not clearly expressed, treatment can be carried out at home: give the child various diuretic mixtures for 7-14 days. As with dehydration, control the volume of urination.

Anemia is a disease also associated with the work of the first mechanism. Exist . The most common are:

Scarce- associated with a lack of vitamins and microelements in the body. To restore balance, it is recommended to take a course of multivitamins, and, as prescribed by a doctor, vitamins B12, iron, and folic acid preparations.
Posthemorrhagic- not typical for children, occurs due to bleeding against the background of emerging complications in the postoperative period. It is treated exclusively in inpatient settings.
Aplastic- especially typical for children. The causes of development are associated with improper functioning of the bone marrow. It is diagnosed during examinations by a pediatrician based on the results of a general blood test.
Hyperproteinemia- a disease triggered by the second mechanism, in which low GM is provoked by feeding children goat or cow milk. The amount of protein in this milk is significantly greater than in breast milk. The main recommendation for stabilizing GM in such cases is to transfer the baby to breastfeeding or milk formulas with a reduced protein content.