Guide values for quantitative examinations in medical laboratories: definitions, classification and limits of application. Recommendations for classifying and defining guide values of quantitative measurements1 / Classification and Definition of Guide Values for Quantitative Measurements

Task Force Members: Farhad Arzideh; Eberhard Gurr; Rainer Haeckel; Wilhelm Hinsch; Gerhard Schumann; Werner Wosniok

doi:10.1515/JLM.2009.039et

Open Access Published by De Gruyter August 7, 2009

Guide values for quantitative examinations in medical laboratories: definitions, classification and limits of application. Recommendations for classifying and defining guide values of quantitative measurements¹ / Classification and Definition of Guide Values for Quantitative Measurements

Task Force Members: Farhad Arzideh , Eberhard Gurr , Rainer Haeckel , Wilhelm Hinsch , Gerhard Schumann and Werner Wosniok

From the journal Journal of Laboratory Medicine

https://doi.org/10.1515/JLM.2009.039et

Abstract

Patients' results require reference points, so-called guide values. The quality of guide values was surprisingly neglected in the past, whereas the quality assurance of analytical procedures has made enormous progress in the last decades. Several concepts of guide values are used for the interpretation of analytical results. These values discriminate at least two subgroups of populations, of which samples are sent to medical laboratories (a non-diseased and a diseased subgroup). The concepts are classified into four groups: reference limits, decision limits, action limits, and therapeutic limits. These groups have different benefits and disadvantages which are demonstrated by some practical examples.

Keywords: guide values; reference intervals; reference limits

Korrespondenz: Prof. Dr. Rainer Haeckel, Katrepeler Landstraße 45E, 28357 Bremen, Germany Tel.: +421 273446 Fax: +421 1631608 rainer.haeckel@t-online.de

Published Online: 2009-08-07

Published in Print: 2009-07-01

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Guide values for quantitative examinations in medical laboratories: definitions, classification and limits of application. Recommendations for classifying and defining guide values of quantitative measurements¹ / Classification and Definition of Guide Values for Quantitative Measurements

Abstract

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