The blood pressure, smoking habit and haemotocrit of 154 patients with transient ischaemic attacks and 191 age-and sex-matched neurological controls were studied. Regression analysis revealed that the haematocrit value was related to both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and to smoking. Smoking elevated the haematocrit by 1.9 +/- 0.59 in males and by 2.18 +/- 0.68 in females. When these a...

Sir, We read with interest the report by Jungers et al. [1] in the September issue of NDT. The authors compared their results with our earlier publication [2]. Jungers et al. stated that ‘With respect to the influence of gender, our observations are in agreement with data from the USRDS registry report, with a higher proportion of anaemia in female patients [6], but at variance with those of Hs...

Acute reduction in haematocrit (without significant alteration of blood volume) in six patients with severe polycythaemia secondary to cyanotic congenital heart disease resulted in an increase in resting cardiac output without alteration in heart rate. Cardiac output was also increased during a constant-load exercise test after haematocrit reduction, and under these conditions total oxygen upta...

Haemoglobin (g/dl) and haematocrit (%) values were determined in 30 healthy controls and 40 patients with ischaemic heart disease. Both groups were non-smokers. Haemoglobin and haematocrit values (mean +/- SE) in patients were 15.65 +/- 0.18 and 46.45 +/- 0.49 and in controls 14.30 +/- 0.14 and 41.50 +/- 0.23. Significantly higher (P < 0.001) haematocrit value by influencing the blood viscosity...

Low haematocrit values are generally well tolerated in terms of oxygen transport but a low haematocrit might interfere with blood coagulation. We thus sampled 60 ml of blood in 30 healthy volunteers. The blood was centrifuged for 30 min at 2000 g and separated into plasma, which contained the platelet fraction, and packed red blood cells. The blood was subsequently reconstituted by combining th...

OBJECTIVES Haemorheological variables influence endothelial function through the release of several factors. Clinical studies have described an association among blood viscosity, haematocrit, haemoglobin and macro-angiopathy. Few data are reported about the association between haemorheological variables and micro-angiopathy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between t...

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease is a common genetic disorder in Nigeria. OBJECTIVES: To determine the steady state haematocrit, liver size and spleen size in children with sickle cell disease and the factors that influence them. METHODS:This was a retrospective study of children with sickle cell disorders who attended the anaemia clinic of the Children’s Outpatient Department, University Colleg...