Doctor's Assessment Included
Every result includes a professional assessment from a BIG-registered doctor. For treatment decisions, discuss your results with your GP.
Monocytes: Clean-Up and Recovery Under Training Load
Monocytes are the largest white blood cells and part of your complete blood count. They clear away damaged cells and pathogens and turn into macrophages that support tissue repair. For active people this matters, as a raised count can fit inflammation or recovery after an infection, while a low count is less common.
What It Measures
Monocytes are the largest white blood cells and part of your innate immune system. They circulate in your blood for a few days and then move into your tissues, where they turn into macrophages and dendritic cells. In that form they clear away dead cells, cellular debris and pathogens, and help activate other immune cells.
This test measures how many monocytes are present in your blood. The count is determined within a complete blood count with differential, in which the five types of white blood cells (neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils) are counted separately.
The result can be shown as an absolute number or as a percentage of all white blood cells. Your doctor looks at both to assess whether your immune defence is in balance.
Why It Matters
Monocytes play a role in long-term immune defence and in clearing up after an infection or inflammation. Their number can therefore give your doctor extra information about what is going on in your body.
A raised count (monocytosis) often fits with a long-lasting (chronic) infection or inflammation, with recovery after an infection, or with certain autoimmune conditions. Sometimes a persistently raised count is linked to bone marrow disorders.
A reduced count (monocytopenia) is less common and can occur with certain infections, after the use of corticosteroids, or with reduced production in the bone marrow. Monocytes are always assessed together with the other white blood cells, because it is the overall picture that carries meaning.
When to Test
Monocytes are measured when you have a complete blood count with differential. This is often done with fever, a (suspected) infection, persistent signs of inflammation or with general complaints for which your doctor wants to find the cause.
The value can also be useful to monitor when an abnormal count was found previously, or during recovery after an infection.
Because the monocyte count fluctuates, your doctor always interprets a result in the context of your symptoms and, if needed, a repeat measurement.
Symptoms
Low Levels
High Levels
Lifestyle Tips
A healthy lifestyle with enough rest, healthy nutrition and limiting prolonged stress supports a balanced immune system.
A one-off mild deviation is often harmless and is regularly part of normal recovery after an infection. A persistently high or low monocyte count should be assessed by a doctor, especially when combined with symptoms or abnormalities in the rest of your blood count.