Q: I am a 52 years old man who had done a blood test recently. The blood biochemistry result showed fasting blood sugar (FBS) – 88 mg/dl, blood urea – 31 mg/dl, creatinine - 1.22 mL/min, triglycerides – 125 mg/dl, cholesterol – 212 mg/dl, HDL – 51 mg/dl, LDL – 136 mg/dl, VLDL – 25 mg/dl and LDL/HDL ratio - 2.7. Sodium – 142, potassium - 4.1. Haematology test result showed – white blood cell (WBC) - 6.0, red blood cell (RBC) - 6.14, haemoglobin (Hb) - 16.1, hematocrit (Hct) - 48.5, MCV - 79.0, MCH - 26.2, MCHC - 3.2, platelet – 261000, ESR - 1st hour – 8, PH – 5. Are these results within normal range?

A:Let us first look at your blood biochemistry investigations: While FBS – 88, blood urea – 31, creatinine - 1.22, triglycerides – 125, HDL – 51, VLDL – 25, LDL/HDL ratio 2.7, sodium – 142, potassium - 4.1 all are within the reference interval. Cholesterol - 212 and LDL - 136 are borderline elevated. This statement is true assuming that this test was done after the requisite fasting of 10 hours (overnight) had been followed. Both cholesterol and LDL cholesterol can be taken care of by restricting dietary lipids and exercise.

All your haematological parameters are within the reference interval except: RBC - 6.14, MCV - 79.0, MCH - 26.2. It would have been good to have RDW also, however, based on the other three investigations it may not be out of place to get haemoglobin HPLC done to exclude the possibility of underlying beta thalassaemia carrier state.