Brief Answer: There is absolutely no need to worry. Detailed Answer: Hi, Welcome to Healthcare Magic! I understand that the consistently abnormal results make you feel concerned. But in my opinion, your reports are not too abnormal. According to most researchers, for men, haemoglobin more than 18.5 or haematocrit more than 52 should be investigated further. Haematocrit should be more than 60 for men to considered diagnostic of polycythemia. Even the red cell counts are considered to be normal for men if they are in the range of 4.7 to 6.1 million cells per cubic mm. Your values aren't too out of the normal range. The normal range for all tests is usually calculated as the range in which around 96% normal values lie (plus and minus two standard deviations from the mean). That means that there still will be 4% people who are normal but whose values will be outside the normal range. Your doctor has already investigated you thoroughly and tried to exclude the usual causes. It is true that smoking could have been responsible for your abnormal reports and now that you have quit, the levels are gradually falling. Your doctor is also correct in thinking that being overweight may be contributing to the slight abnormality in results as the arterial oxygen level falls at night in people who are obese. This hypoxia can lead to a slight increase in haematocrit. This has been found in quite a few studies. That is why, in my opinion, you absolutely need not worry about your test results. I would not consider them as abnormal, but as being just on or slightly outside the upper limits of normal range. If you are physically fit, these slight abnormalities need not worry you. If later you were to develop some symptoms that would indicate some illness, then more tests can be done as required. Hope this allays your concerns. Please feel free to ask if you need any clarifications. Best wishes. Dr Preeti Parakh MD Psychiatry

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