Reporting the accuracy of biochemical measurements for epidemiologic and nutrition studies

Procedures for reporting and monitoring the accuracy of biochemical measurements are presented. They are proposed as standard reporting procedures for laboratory assays for epidemiologic and clinical-nutrition studies. The recommended procedures require identification and estimation of all major sources of variability and explanations of laboratory quality control procedures employed. Variance-components techniques are used to model the total variability and calculate a maximum percent error that provides an easily understandable measure of laboratory precision accounting for all sources of variability. This avoids ambiguities encountered when reporting an SD that may taken into account only a few of the potential sources of variability. Other proposed uses of the total-variability model include estimating precision of laboratory methods for various replication schemes and developing effective quality control-checking schemes. These procedures are demonstrated with an example of the analysis of alpha-tocopherol in human plasma by using high-performance liquid chromatography.