Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess comparability between manual and automated methods of reticulocyte counting and to understand the variation of reticulocyte count over time. Methods: The cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Pathology of a Darbhanga medical college and Hospital, Darbhanga, Bihar, India over a period of six months. In this study, comparison of RC by the manual and automated method was done in 100 patients with anemia and 100 control samples which were matched for age and sex. Results: Basic demography in study cases showed 46 females and 54 males. Out of 100 cases, 12 cases were infants (up to 1 year), 38 cases were children (>1 year to 14 years) and 60 cases were adults (>14 years). The mean automated RC for males was 4.76 ± 4.20 and it was 4.90 ± 4.36 by the manual method. In the case of females, the mean automated RC was 3.65 ± 3.44 and that by the manual method, it was 3.88 ± 3.66. No statistically significant difference was found between the automated and manual count among the male (P = 0.77) as well as female patients (P = 0.61) by z-test for the difference between the mean automated RC and mean manual RC. Conclusion: We conclude that there was no significant difference between automated and manual methods for reticulocyte counting in any gender for microcytic, normocytic, or macrocytic patients.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess comparability between manual and automated methods of reticulocyte counting and to understand the variation of reticulocyte count over time. Methods: The cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Pathology of a Darbhanga medical college and Hospital, Darbhanga, Bihar, India over a period of six months. In this study, comparison of RC by the manual and automated method was done in 100 patients with anemia and 100 control samples which were matched for age and sex. Results: Basic demography in study cases showed 46 females and 54 males. Out of 100 cases, 12 cases were infants (up to 1 year), 38 cases were children (>1 year to 14 years) and 60 cases were adults (>14 years). The mean automated RC for males was 4.76 ± 4.20 and it was 4.90 ± 4.36 by the manual method. In the case of females, the mean automated RC was 3.65 ± 3.44 and that by the manual method, it was 3.88 ± 3.66. No statistically significant difference was found between the automated and manual count among the male (P = 0.77) as well as female patients (P = 0.61) by z-test for the difference between the mean automated RC and mean manual RC. Conclusion: We conclude that there was no significant difference between automated and manual methods for reticulocyte counting in any gender for microcytic, normocytic, or macrocytic patients.