Arterial blood gases, CBCs, and BMPs from a major hospital center

Background: Spurious hypoxemia—artefactual reduction in measured arterial oxygen pressure (paO₂) from cellular oxygen consumption in blood specimens—has been attributed to leukocytosis (“leukocyte larceny”) or thrombocytosis (“platelet larceny”). However, the relative contribution of elevated cell counts and temperature-dependent metabolism remains unclear. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 7,431 arterial blood gas (ABG) specimens from 2,643 patients at UC Davis Medical Centre (collection-to-analysis time ≤80 minutes). Spurious hypoxemia was defined paO₂