What is hematocrit?. Hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in a person’s blood. A normal hematocrit range is 37-52% in healthy adults. Low levels indicate anemia, while high levels could signal polycythemia.

Understanding Hematocrit: The Percentage of Red Blood Cells

Hematocrit is the measure of the percentage of red blood cells in a person’s blood. Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are responsible for carrying oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. They contain hemoglobin, a protein that binds to oxygen molecules, allowing them to efficiently transport oxygen.

A typical hematocrit range in healthy adults is 37-52%. This range can vary depending on a person’s sex and age, as identified in a 2017 study. Hematocrit levels are often tested as part of a complete blood count (CBC), which provides a comprehensive analysis of a person’s blood composition.

Causes of Low Hematocrit: Anemia

A low red blood cell count, known as anemia, can lead to a decrease in hematocrit levels. Anemia can be caused by various factors, including:

• Insufficient dietary intake of iron, vitamins, and minerals necessary for red blood cell production
• Bleeding disorders or gastrointestinal bleeding
• Chronic medical conditions like kidney disease or cancer
• Pregnancy

Symptoms of low hematocrit levels due to anemia may include fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, and other related symptoms. It is important to address the underlying cause of anemia to restore normal hematocrit levels and prevent further complications.

Causes of High Hematocrit: Polycythemia

Elevated hematocrit levels, a condition known as polycythemia, can occur due to various factors, including:

• Dehydration
• Certain medical conditions like lung disease or heart disease
• Genetic disorders like polycythemia vera
• Exposure to high altitudes or low oxygen environments

High hematocrit levels can increase the risk of blood clots, stroke, and other cardiovascular complications. It is important for individuals with high hematocrit to work with their healthcare provider to manage the underlying condition and maintain healthy blood viscosity.

The Importance of Hematocrit Testing

Hematocrit testing is an essential tool for healthcare providers to assess an individual’s overall blood health and diagnose or monitor various medical conditions. By measuring the percentage of red blood cells, healthcare providers can gain valuable insights into a person’s oxygen-carrying capacity, hydration status, and potential underlying health issues.

If a person experiences symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, or shortness of breath, their healthcare provider may order a hematocrit test to determine if their red blood cell levels are within the normal range. This information can help guide the diagnosis and treatment of any underlying conditions.

Interpreting Hematocrit Test Results

When interpreting hematocrit test results, healthcare providers consider the following:

• Normal hematocrit range: 37-52% for healthy adults
• Low hematocrit: Indicates anemia and potential underlying causes
• High hematocrit: Suggests polycythemia and increased risk of blood clots

It is important to note that hematocrit levels can be influenced by various factors, including age, sex, and certain medical conditions. Healthcare providers will consider these factors when interpreting the test results and determining the appropriate course of action.

Maintaining Healthy Hematocrit Levels

Maintaining healthy hematocrit levels is essential for overall well-being and optimal bodily function. Here are some tips to help maintain healthy hematocrit levels:

• Eat a balanced diet rich in iron, folate, and other nutrients necessary for red blood cell production
• Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water
• Engage in regular physical activity to support healthy blood flow and oxygen delivery
• Avoid behaviors that can lead to dehydration, such as excessive alcohol consumption
• Manage any underlying medical conditions that may affect red blood cell production or function

By maintaining a healthy hematocrit level, individuals can support their overall cardiovascular and respiratory health, and reduce the risk of complications associated with low or high red blood cell counts.

Importance of Red Blood Cells

What Are Red Blood Cells?

Red blood cells, or erythrocytes, are one of the components of blood. (The others are plasma, platelets and white blood cells.) They are continuously produced in our bone marrow. Just two or three drops of blood can contain about one billion red blood cells – in fact, that’s what gives our blood that distinctive red color.

What Is the Function of Red Blood Cells?

Red blood cells carry oxygen from our lungs to the rest of our bodies. Then they make the return trip, taking carbon dioxide back to our lungs to be exhaled.

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What Does a Low Red Blood Cell Count Mean?

A low red blood cell count, known as anemia, can cause fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and other symptoms. If untreated, anemia can lead to serious complications. In many cases, anemia occurs when we don’t eat a nutrient rich diet; choosing foods that are rich in iron and other vitamins and minerals can help raise the red blood cell count. Learn about heme iron and which foods are considered rich in iron. 

Anemia can also be caused by pregnancy and certain medical conditions such as bleeding disorders and kidney disease. Talk to your doctor to determine the best course of treatment.

How Are Red Blood Cells Used in Medicine?

Red blood cells are the most commonly transfused blood component. Patients who benefit most from receiving red blood cells include those with chronic anemia resulting from kidney failure or gastrointestinal bleeding, and those with acute blood loss resulting from trauma. They can also be used to treat blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

How Are Red Blood Cells Collected?

Red blood cells are prepared from whole blood by removing the plasma (the liquid portion of the blood). Sometimes this is done after a person donates a pint of whole blood, resulting in multiple components (red cells, plasma and platelets) that can be given to different patients. Learn more about the different components that can be obtained from a whole blood donation.  

Other times, it is done during the donation itself, using a process called apheresis. In this case, only the red cells are retained and the patient’s plasma and platelets are returned to them. Some donors say that this leaves them feeling more hydrated than giving a whole blood donation.

Red cells have a shelf life of up to 42 days, depending on the type of anticoagulant used when they are stored. They can also be treated and frozen for 10 years or more.

Why Donations Are So Important

Recent studies show that there is a need for blood transfusions every 2 seconds, all of which must be collected from volunteer donors. One powerful way to help is to donate what the Red Cross calls “Power Red.” By donating Power Red, you double your impact by contributing two units of red blood cells in just one donation.

Learn More About Blood Components

Platelets

Plasma

Red Blood Cells

Cryoprecipitate

Whole Blood

Hematocrit

White Blood Cells

Donate Power Red and help trauma patients, surgery patients, people with sickle cell anemia, and others.  

What it is, levels, high and low range

Hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in a person’s blood. A typical hematocrit range in healthy adults is 37–52%. This varies depending on a person’s sex and age.

Authors of a 2017 study identified the above typical range.

Low red blood cell levels indicate conditions such as anemia. High red blood cell levels could signal polycythemia, increasing a person’s chance of developing a blood clot.

If a person feels tired, dizzy, or short of breath, a doctor may want to test their hematocrit levels to see if those levels fall into a normal range or not.

Read on to learn more about what this measure of red blood cell volume means, symptoms of abnormal levels, and what low and high levels might indicate.

Hematocrit measures the percentage of red blood cells in the body. For example: if a person has 50 milliliters (ml) of red blood cells in 100 ml of blood, their hematocrit level is 50%.

Red blood cells transport oxygen around the body and give blood its characteristic red color. In addition to oxygen, they also contain hemoglobin, a protein that binds to oxygen molecules. This allows red blood cells to pick up oxygen from the lungs and deliver it throughout the body.

An adequate amount of red blood cells is essential to keep the body’s processes running smoothly.

Many conditions can affect red blood cell production or its life cycle. This can make it difficult for a medical professional to diagnose these conditions. A doctor will use a hematocrit test to confirm whether a person’s red blood cell count is affecting a health condition.

Doctors usually test hematocrit levels as part of a complete blood count (CBC).

A CBC is composed of a range of tests and may include:

• red blood cell count
• reticulocyte count (young red blood cells)
• an analysis of hemoglobin levels
• an analysis of red blood cells, including size and shape
• white blood cell tests
• platelet tests

A doctor will also consider a person’s sex, race, and age. It is important to note that certain blood-related conditions, such as sickle-cell anemia, affect particular demographic groups at higher rates.

Learn more about sickle cell anemia in African Americans here.

A doctor may request frequent hematocrit tests to monitor the effect of chemotherapy on a person’s bone marrow.

Both high and low hematocrit levels can be detrimental to a person’s health and result from various conditions and lifestyle factors.

What are normal hematocrit levels?

Different institutions will define normal hematocrit levels differently. However, a 2017 cross-population study found the following ranges to be typical.

• Male: 42-52%
• Female: 37-47%
• Children: 30–44%, depending on their age and sex

Newborn babies have high hematocrit levels that gradually decrease as they get older.

If a person has recently received a blood transfusion, it may affect their results. Additionally, pregnant individuals may have lower levels than usual because the body increases its blood volume during pregnancy.

Other factors, such as smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may push levels into a higher range.

Low levels

A hematocrit level below 35% in women and 41% in men is low. A level under this value can signify chronic anemia.

High levels

Hematocrit levels above the typical ranges can have adverse effects. It may indicate serious underlying health conditions.

Accuracy of results

Results from hematocrit tests are typically accurate and provide a clear reading of a person’s red blood cell levels.

However, the percentage of red blood cells in someone’s blood can change depending on various lifestyle factors and even environmental changes. According to research, red blood cell counts tend to increase at high altitudes.

Exercise, particularly strength training, may also affect hematocrit levels. A 2018 study found that females who participated in 16 weeks of strength exercise had lower levels at the end than when they started. However, the study had a small sample size of 26 middle-aged, sedentary Turkish women. This means that these findings aren’t necessarily representative of a wider population.

Dehydration can also raise hematocrit levels, so this test is useful if a doctor suspects severe dehydration is the cause of a person’s symptoms.

When a person has low hematocrit levels, they tend to present with the following symptoms:

• pale complexion
• weakness
• fatigue
• low energy
• trouble breathing
• irregular heartbeat
• cold hands or feet

These symptoms also indicate anemia, a condition where hemoglobin levels are lower than normal. Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body.

Mild anemia is treatable, and it is particularly common in women. Severe anemia could signal a more serious underlying health condition that requires more extensive treatment.

Doctors associate anemia with several health conditions, including:

Nutrient deficiency

A person may lack B12, folate, or iron in their diet.

Learn more about how nutrient deficiency anemia is diagnosed and treated.

Chronic bleeding

This commonly occurs due to digestive tract ulcers, which are sores caused by the bacteria H.pylori or chronic use of anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and aspirin. Many women also experience excessive blood loss from heavy menstrual bleeding.

Bone marrow disorder

This includes aplastic anemia, which damages stem cells in bone marrow.

Cancer

These cancers spread to bone marrow, such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Learn more about bone marrow cancers here.

Kidney failure

Kidney disease can lower the production of red blood cells, reducing hematocrit levels.

Thalassemia

When a person has this condition, their body does not produce enough hemoglobin.

Learn more about thalassemia here.

Sickle cell anemia

This condition changes the shape of red blood cells. These cells die earlier than normal, and they also clump together, which impairs blood flow.

Learn more about sickle cell anemia here.

Autoimmune disease

Conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus may reduce red blood cell count.

Learn more about autoimmune diseases here.

When a person has high hematocrit levels, they tend to present with these symptoms:

• flushed skin
• dizziness
• vision problems
• headaches
• enlarged spleen

These symptoms signal polycythemia, a condition where the body produces too many red blood cells. This means blood is thicker and clots more easily.

Doctors cannot cure polycythemia, so treatment focuses on symptom management. The main goal is to avoid stroke and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is a blood clot usually occurring in a deep vein in the leg.

In some cases, dehydration causes polycythemia. When a person does not drink enough, their plasma levels drop, increasing the proportion of red blood cells in their blood volume. A person can lower their red blood cell count by rehydrating.

Some conditions that can cause high hematocrit levels include:

Lung or pulmonary disease

When the lungs cannot absorb oxygen effectively, and oxygen levels drop, the body compensates by making more red blood cells. One common pulmonary disease causing this is COPD.

Learn more about COPD here.

Heart disease

If the structure of a person’s heart reduces its ability to pump blood around the body, it can no longer sustain vital organs with oxygen. To try and overcome the oxygen deficit, the body produces more red blood cells.

Learn more about heart disease here.

Kidney cancer

Sometimes kidney cancer cells create more erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is a hormone that tells the bone marrow to create more red blood cells.

Learn more about kidney cancer here.

Genetic disease

The JAK2 gene, which controls the number of blood cells made in the bone marrow, can affect certain conditions. When someone has a mutated JAK2 gene, the body could make a protein that signals the bone marrow to create more red blood cells than it needs.

Learn more about genetic disorders here.

A person should speak with a doctor if they are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above that could be a sign of high or low hematocrit levels, including fatigue, weakness, vision problems, and dizziness.

These symptoms can also indicate an underlying condition, so a person must contact a doctor promptly to prevent future complications.

If a person is receiving chemotherapy treatment, a doctor should perform regular hematocrit tests to monitor bone marrow health.

Hematocrit is the percentage of blood cells in a person’s blood volume. A doctor may test an individual’s hematocrit level due to certain symptoms.

A low hematocrit level means there are too few red blood cells in the body. In these cases, a person may experience symptoms that signal anemia. Common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, and low energy.

If a person has too many red blood cells, they have a high hematocrit level. A person may experience dizziness and headaches, which can be a sign of the condition polycythemia.

Demographic and lifestyle factors can influence a person’s hematocrit levels. For example, males tend to have higher levels than females. Pregnant individuals can experience a decrease in hematocrit levels, and strength training may also reduce levels.

There are also several health conditions that can cause hematocrit levels outside the normal range. Excessive bleeding, thalassemia, and kidney disease are causes of low levels. COPD and sickle cell anemia can cause high levels.

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TWIN – Development of voice and chat bots

TWIN is an omnichannel platform for efficient and cost-effective automated customer communications. Voice and chat bots, a chat platform, a mailing service and a widget for the site – so as not to miss a single lead.

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Bots work in a variety of communication channels – from phone to SMS, from email to instant messengers and social networks – and can seamlessly switch between them while maintaining the history of the dialogue.

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A single operator panel for convenient management of hundreds of dialogs in any channels of your communication with the market. Saving all dialogues and detailed analytics.

How it works

Communicate with website visitors and don’t lose a single lead. Connect the bot during non-working hours and serve customers on the site around the clock.

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All TWIN products are easily integrated with all popular CRMs. And also with instant messengers, social networks, Google spreadsheets and even Avito and ChatGPT.

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One of the key aspects of the activity of a guaranteeing supplier of electricity is dealing with receivables. This is a complex and multi-stage process, an important part of which is informing debtors. Based on the results of comparative tests, we opted for a voice bot from TWIN, this vendor showed the best metrics in comparison with competitors and was as close as possible to operators.

Using a voice bot has a number of advantages: for the same cost, call performance is significantly higher than that of operators, and an involved development team will allow you to regularly adapt and improve conversation scripts, achieving growth in key indicators.

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Case: How to effectively collect debts for housing and communal services

KONTORA BARBERSHOP

KONTORA BARBERSHOP thanks TWIN as an expert in its field, which provided a ready-made platform for outgoing communications with the company’s clients, and also regularly introduces new features that improve the business processes of our projects. I am very glad that in 2022 KONTORA BARBERSHOP launched a project based on the TWIN communications platform. Especially for us, a version of the service with special settings and functionality was developed and implemented, which made it possible to demonstrate high sales efficiency.

The introduction of voice bots allows you to increase customer coverage, offer them relevant promotions and information, as well as increase the number of sales and customer loyalty, because they can work around the clock without the participation of a live person.

I especially note the high level of professional competence of the TWIN teams, their responsible attitude and coherence in their work. I recommend TWIN (Uralinnovation LLC) as a reliable partner and express my confidence that our joint success will be strengthened.

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PEK

At a certain stage of the work, we managed to identify one of the main problems of the company – long-term storage of delivered goods in our warehouses. Based on this, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to reduce the time for informing customers. The solution was not to increase the cost of the alert.

The bot from TWIN helped us with these tasks! Firstly, it promptly informs customers that the cargo has been delivered. Secondly, the bot offers to use the services of a courier. It also includes surveys on the quality of services provided.

The result was not long in coming: the storage time of goods in warehouses was reduced by a quarter. Sales of cargo delivery services increased six times! Our plans include further cooperation with TWIN, we will develop and apply technologies in practice.

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Lead Account Analyst

Case: How to get orders faster and reduce warehouse costs

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All TWIN products have easy integration with all popular Internet messengers, social networks, CRM systems, chat platforms, corporate telephony solutions and many other platforms for business communication with their customers.

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Combining online communications with clients in CRM. ✔ Online consultant, online chat in Bitrix24

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Connect online communications with customers

Organize customer support through digital channels: Vkontakte, Facebook, Telegram and instant messengers, consult online chat on your website. Respond to customers quickly, efficiently and personally.

Open lines collect messages from different channels in Bitrix24, distribute them according to the queue rules among employees and quietly store them in CRM.

How Open Lines work

• You connect your Vkontakte groups, Facebook pages, Telegram bot, online chat on the site and other digital channels to the Open Line (soon: callback, Skype, Viber).
• Messages from clients that they write to you through these channels enter the Open Line in Bitrix24 and are distributed according to the queue rules among employees in real time.
• Employees see customer questions in the Bitrix24 chat, answer there, and customers receive an answer where they asked the question – Vkontakte, Facebook, Telegram or in the chat on the site.
• Customer contacts and the history of communication with them are automatically saved in CRM.
• If the question comes from a customer who is already in the
  CRM, it will go directly to the manager responsible for this client.

Routing and queue

• Each open line has its own queue of employees who answer customer questions
• Distribution of messages is strictly sequential or uniform
• The message can be redirected to another Open line or another employee
• You can connect other employees to the dialogue with the client (in open or hidden mode)
• Unanswered messages are returned back to the queue (automatically after a specified time or manually)
• If the employee has not started a working day or a break, the message will not be sent to him

Online chat to the website

Classic online consultations in the chat on the website are another communication channel. If the client is on the company’s website, it is convenient for him to ask here.

What is the advantage of online chat in Bitrix24 Open Lines

• It’s free!
• Chat is easy to install on any site (HTML code)
• Very easy to customize the look and feel of your site
• Ready-made public page for an open line – even without a website (for example, a channel for the marketing, sales department)
• Messages from clients are distributed according to the queue rules among employees
• Communication history is stored in CRM
• Responsive design

CRM works invisibly

• Contacts of a new client are automatically recorded in CRM as a new lead
• Correspondence history is stored in the customer card
• A question from a client that is in the CRM database will go to the responsible manager
• You have all the statistics of calls through open lines to analyze the level of satisfaction of your customers

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