Pediatric White Blood Cell Disorders

Pathophysiology

Body produces white blood cells (leukocytes), which help fight bacterial infections, viruses and fungi. If your child has too few or too many white blood cells, in general, here's what it means: Low white blood cell count (leukopenia) means having too few leukocytes circulating in the blood. A long-term low white blood cell count increases the risk of infections and may be caused by a number of different diseases and conditions.

Disease statistics

Reference ranges for absolute total neutrophils/mm3, absolute immature neutrophils/mm3, and thefraction of immature to total neutrophils (I:T proportion) during the first 28 days of life are developed from 585 peripheral blood counts obtained from 304 normal neonates and 320 counts obtained from 130 neonates with perinatal complications demonstrated to have no statistically significant effect on neutrophil dynamics. Perinatal factors other than bacterial disease which significantly alter neutrophil dynamics include maternal hypertension, maternal fever prior to delivery, hemolytic disease, and periventricular hemorrhage.

Treatment

Treatments for white blood cell disorders depend on several factors, including: The type of disorder, The extent of the disorder, Your child’s overall health, Your child’s response to treatment, Your preferences Our treatments for your child’s white blood cell disorder may include: Chemotherapy, Radiation, Antibiotics, Colony-stimulating factors (these increase the body’s production of blood cells), Drugs to suppress the immune system Stem cell transplantation may be useful for some types of severe white blood cell disorders, particularly those caused by bone marrow problems

Research

A community-based sample (Framingham Offspring Study) of 1393 men and 1401 women who were free of CVD at the onset of the study and who were between the ages of 30 and 59 years at baseline. Time-dependent multiple variable logistic regression methods were used.