[The significance of various hematological parameters for the early diagnosis of bacterial infection in premature and full-term neonates. 1. Patients and study methods, normal values for the blood picture of newborn infants].
We examined the white blood count in 101 premature infants and full-term neonates on their first day of life (before or within the 12th hour), on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th day of life. Infection was suspected in the course in 31 infants (without demonstration of pathogenic organisms). In 73 infants without infections we were therefore able to establish normal values. We could establish reference limits corresponding to the standard deviation for all kinds of white blood cells, except the whole leucocyte count. Because of considerable individual differences of the whole white blood cell count in newborns without infections we fixed for this reference limits from 5 to 20 Gpt/l. The means of leucocyte and neutrophil counts reached their maximum in the 12th hour after birth, decreased until the 5th day of life and leveled off then. The segmented neutrophils and the lymphocyte counts crossed over after the 5th day of life resulting in a relative lymphocytosis. The physiologic left shift decreased in the first days of life. These described changes after birth were significant.