Evaluation of clinical usefulness of reference interval of some selected hematological parameters in canine blood

Pak, Son-Il; Han, Ho-Jae

Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 2004;44(4):649-653.

¹Department of Veterinary Medicine, Kangwon National University
²College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University

Abstract

To estimate the source of variance components for some hematological parameters and assess the utility of the conventional population-based reference interval, this study computed index of individuality for blood samples, which were from 13 dogs drawn once weekly for 4 consecutive weeks. Results were subjected to nested analysis of variance. For all parameters measured between-dog variations were greater than within-dog variation. Except for the parameters RBC and MCHC the index of individuality was <1.4. The low reliability coefficient and high index of individuality of ${leq}0.8$ were found for the majority of hematological parameters. In practical term, the present study indicated that use of hemogram profiles alone in the evaluating clinical state of a single patient should be avoided because of their physiological or natural random variations, and that comparing a single measurement on the blood analytes from an individual dog to the conventional population-based reference range may be too insensitive to detect any significant changes in the blood components of that particular dog. A single measurement may not characterize an individual's average concentration of the parameters even shortterm period.

Key Words: index of individuality, reference interval, hematology, variability, dog