Measurement of serum and plasma ionic calcium with the "Space-Stat 20 Ionized Calcium Analyzer"

Ca2+ was measured in sera and plasma from 36 normal subjects (18 men 23-57 years old, and 18 women 20-52 years old) with the Space-Stat 20 Ionized Calcium Analyzer. Within-day and between-day precision (CV) for commercial serum-based specimens varied from 0.64-0.96% and 1.1-3.8%, respectively, depending on their mean concentrations. Plasma and serum showed within-day CV's of 1.05 and 0.79%, respectively. The linear regression of serum Ca2+ (y) on plasma Ca2+ (x) was y = 0.63x + 0.45 mmol/litre with a highly significant (P less than 0.001) coefficient of correlation (r) of 0.69. An approximate 5% increase in the mean Ca2+ concentration in serum over that found in plasma is probably due to heparin complexing. No significant sex-related difference was observed for either serum or plasma. The mean Ca2+ concentration of 29 refrigerated specimens tended to decrease in seven days (by 2.3%, not statistically significant). The normal Ca2+ range in serum and plasma (n = 35) was 1.08-1.18 and 1.02-1.14 mmol/litre, respectively.