What does your full blood count test report mean? FBC or CBC
Most people get a blood test at some time or other, but what do the results actually mean and what are the doctors looking for? Understanding your blood tests properly can help you understand your own health better so you can stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
When it comes to your full blood count FBC (or complete blood count CBC if you’re American) there are three main categories.
Red cells
White cells
Platelets
Fortunately I’ve made a handy video which explains all about it right here:
To break things down in more detail I’ll tell you what we look for and then what that might mean.
RED CELLS - carry oxygen around your body
Haemoglobin - protein that carries red cells around
Haematocrit - how thick your blood is
Red cell count - how many red cells you have.
These three come together to let us know if you have the right amount of red cells doing the right thing. Low levels can indicate anaemia and may spur on further tests to look at iron or B vitamin levels to see why that anaemia might be there. Anaemia can also be caused by bleeding and especially common in women who have heavy periods.
High levels leads to something we call ‘polycythaemia’. This might be normal if you’re an athlete or dehydrated, adaptive if you’re a smoker, or pathological in some medical conditions and in those who take anabolic steroids.
Then we look at your cell measurements. Your MCH, MCV, MCHC and RDW.
These give us an indication of how big your red cells are. If they’re small in size it might indicate something like thalassaemia or iron deficiency. If they’re large it could point to a B vitamin issue or excess alcohol intake.
It’s important to know that if you do a blood tests that has to be posted off (as is the case in many at home blood tests), then some of these markers can derange during transport, so small fluctuations should be taken with a pinch of salt.
White Cells
White cells help you fight infection when they’re outside the normal ranges it can help us identify what kind of infection you might have. Crudely speaking:
Neutrophils = bacterial infection
Lymphocytes = viral infection
Eosinophils = allergy (or parasites if levels are very high)
Basophils = viral and/or allergy
Monocytes = chronic infection
Levels tend to go up with infection, but can go down too - especially in the case of viral infections. If your white cells drop very low it can make you susceptible to infection
Platelets
These little things help you form clots (though this is a very complicated process). If platelets are low it might be you have a clotting problem. If they’re a little high that can be fairly innocuous and can be caused by infection or inflammation. If levels go too high then that should be explored further.
The MPV is a measurement of platelet size isn’t ever really given a second thought unless you’re a haematologist.