Impact of pre-analytical variables - temperature, agitation, storage duration, and blood-toanticoagulant ratio - on complete blood count test reliability

Specimens should ideally be tested within 12 hours or stored at 4°C to prevent degradation of the test variables, particularly white blood cell counts and platelet counts. The findings suggest that routine handling and transport conditions are appropriate, as agitation during transport and a decreased blood volume-to-anticoagulant ratio appear to have negligible effects. Incorporating measurement uncertainty benchmarks improves the distinction between genuine sample deterioration and assay variability, thereby enhancing diagnostic accuracy.