Sports medicine pearls and pitfalls: benign neutropenia in athletes.

摘要

Questions arise about chronic neutropenia in athletes. Example: A collegiate basketball player, an African-American female, who is healthy but for 3 yr in a row, upon routine testing, has had a white blood cell (WBC) count ranging from 2300 to 3100 cells uL~(-1) , with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) from 1100 to 1500 cells uL~(-1). Example: A professional baseball player, an African-American male, who is healthy but for 2 yr in a row, upon routine testing, has had a WBC from 3100 to 3600 cells uL~(-1), with an ANC from 900 to 940 cells uL~(-1). Example: In my years as team internist at the University of Oklahoma, I have seen chronic neutropenia like this in several African-American athletes in various sports and in runners from Jamaica, with ANC as low as 800 cells-uL . None of these athletes with chronic neutropenia has had any unusual problem with infections. The neutropenia is benign.