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Leucocytosis in pregnancy - causes, symptoms, treatment

dr. Paulina Raczyńska

You can read this text in 3 min.

Leucocytosis in pregnancy - causes, symptoms, treatment

PantherMedia

Abdominal pain in pregnancy

This article deals with the phenomenon of leukocytosis in pregnant women.

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Table of contents:

  1. What is leukocytosis?
  2. Physiological leukocytosis
  3. Neutrophilic leukocytosis
  4. Dietary leukocytosis
  5. Leukocytosis in pregnancy
  6. Leucocytosis - causes
  7. Leukocytosis - symptoms
  8. Leukocytosis - Treatment

What is leukocytosis?

Leukocytosis is a condition in which there is an increase in the number of white blood cells in the body. The total number of leukocytes consists of lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils. An accurate determination of the number of individual leukocytes makes it easier to make the correct diagnosis, i.e. the pathology that caused the increase in the number of individual blood corpuscles.

Physiological leukocytosis

An increase in the number of leukocytes produced by the body does not necessarily indicate a pathology. Physiologically, the white blood cells are responsible for the body's defence reactions, so an increase can also occur in stressful situations, but which are not caused by a disease. This is when we speak of physiological leukocytosis. It can be caused by physical exertion, a heavy meal, hypothermia, stress, overheating, as well as smoking or pregnancy.

Neutrophilic leukocytosis

Neutrophilicleukocytosis, or neutrophilia, refers, as the name suggests, to neutrophils (neutrophilic granulocytes), which, in percentage terms, constitute the most numerous group of leukocytes present in the peripheral blood (40-75%). This condition can occur physiologically during pregnancy or after an overly heavy meal, but can also indicate a condition following splenic resection, ongoing bacterial infection, leukaemia, lymphoma, Cushing's syndrome or any type of autoimmune disease.

Food leukocytosis

Gastrointestinalleukocytosis is a condition in which there is an increase in the number of leukocytes in the blood after eating a hearty meal. There are also papers indicating a correlation between the way the food was prepared and the increase in white blood cells. These show that the more processed a food is, the greater the leukocytosis it induces.

Leukocytosis, Leukocytosis causes, Leukocytosis symptoms, Leukocytosis-in-pregnancy, Leukocytosis-treatment

Leukocytosis in pregnancy, photo: panthermedia

Leucocytosis in pregnancy

An increased concentration of leukocytes in the blood during pregnancy should not alarm us. Of course, this refers to a slight increase and the absence of any accompanying symptoms that could indicate an ongoing pathology in the body. Any worrying symptoms should prompt a visit to a specialist in order to rule out any diseases that may pose a risk to the baby.

Leucocytosis - causes

There can be many causes of leucocytosis occurring during pregnancy. Firstly, gestational leukocytosis is a physiological phenomenon, i.e. it occurs in every pregnant woman and is due to the natural changes occurring in the woman's body at that time. Sometimes, however, especially when it is significantly elevated and accompanied by worrying symptoms, it can be indicative of a pathology. The most common causes of abnormal leucocytosis in pregnancy are:

  • an ongoing inflammatory process,

  • infection,

  • poisoning,

  • gout,

  • infection,

  • reaction to medication,

  • urinary tract infection,

  • intrauterine infection.

Leukocytosis - symptoms

As mentioned above, there can be many causes of leukocytosis occurring during pregnancy. For this reason, the symptoms will also vary, depending on the cause causing it. Leukocytosis in pregnancy will not produce any symptoms, as it is a normal condition.Pathological leukocytosis, on the other hand, may be accompanied by general weakness, headache, fever or sub-fever, weakness, pain and burning during urination, runny nose, cough, lower abdominal and back pain or diarrhoea.

Leukocytosis - treatment

As leukocytosis can have a variety of aetiologies, it is always necessary to first seek to identify the cause that is causing it. Only then, knowing the causative factor, can we "treat" it, as we never treat the result, but always the disease. It is important to remember that no medication should be used during pregnancy without consulting a specialist. It is also important that any new, worrying symptoms are not ignored, because during pregnancy, a woman's body functions a little differently and any infection, even a seemingly trivial one, can pose a threat to the health of both mother and child. Therefore, regular visits to the gynaecologist and observation of yourself and your body are very important in order to initiate possible treatment in time.