Hypochromasia 1+ in child

[mag75]

My 2 year old daughter recently had some blood work done by her pediatrician because she was in the middle of a 12 day nonspecific fever. Her only other symptom was some minor petechia on her buttocks and legs. He did CBC/diff, PT/PTT, INR, chest x-ray and urine culture. They were all normal except the BW report said Hypochromasia 1+. The doctor did not even make mention of this result, I saw it on the report myself. Is this something that I should be concerned with? What does this mean? Her Hgb was normal along with her MCHC. Could this be a result of the fever?

[Dr. Chan Lowe]

Hello Mag75,

Hypochromasia means the red blood cells are slightly pale in color. (1+ means that it is a minimal amount) In cases where it was indicative of something, most commonly this would be from iron deficiency. If all the other levels were normal (including the HgB/HCT and RDW) it is probably unlikely to be anything significant and may even be simply a normal variation.

Unless there are other indications that something is going on, there is likely no reason to repeat this. If there is concern, it can be repeated to see if anything has changed.

Best wishes.