My brother and i both have the thalassemia trait but we are both very healthy. we both had cbc and cmp tests. we have high rbc and rdw, low mch, low mchv, and low wbc. is the low wbc/neutrophil a problem?

How low: The rbc indices are all expected with thal trait. What is the total WBC and % neuts? Most likely a non issue, but need the actual numbers.

Probably not: As long as you are without symptomatic disease, feel healthy and are living your lives comfortably it would not be wise to allow lab data of this nature to worry you. Many people have relatively low wbcs and are unaffected by it. The actual number of wbcs in measurable circulation is actually a small fraction of the total because the others are adherent to blood vessel walls. Stay healthy.

African American?: African americans often have absolute neutrophil counts that are slightly lower than caucasians. There are many reasons for slight variations in the normal wbc, including alterations in the marginated (attached) vs demarginated (circulating) pools. Being otherwise well, i wouldn't worry about this. As physicians, we are trained to treat patients, not numbers. Cheers.