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Establishment of pediatric reference intervals on a large cohort of healthy children

Emma K Southcott1, Jennifer L Kerrigan, Julia M Potter

  • 1ACT Pathology, The Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australia.

Clinica Chimica Acta; International Journal of Clinical Chemistry
|July 6, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Establishing pediatric reference intervals is crucial for accurate lab result interpretation. This study provides updated reference intervals for healthy children, highlighting how subclinical disease can skew previous findings.

Area of Science:

  • Clinical Chemistry
  • Pediatric Health
  • Longitudinal Studies

Background:

  • Accurate laboratory result interpretation relies on established reference intervals.
  • Limited data exists for pediatric reference intervals.
  • This study addresses this gap by examining a large cohort of healthy children over time.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish updated reference intervals for pediatric laboratory tests.
  • To investigate the impact of subclinical disease on previously established reference intervals.
  • To provide a reliable dataset for assessing the health of children.

Main Methods:

  • A longitudinal study of 852 healthy 8-year-old children was conducted.
  • Children were reassessed at ages 10 and 12 years.
  • Blood samples were analyzed for 37 different chemistries, immunoassays, and derived values.

Main Results:

  • Reference intervals were successfully derived for all tested analytes.
  • Intervals were established separately for males and females.
  • The study identified analytes where previous reference intervals may be distorted by subclinical disease.

Conclusions:

  • The derived pediatric reference intervals largely align with existing literature.
  • A significant finding is the distortion of some previous intervals by subclinical disease.
  • These updated intervals offer a more accurate benchmark for pediatric health assessment.
Abstract

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