J Lab Med Qual Assur.  2006 Dec;28(2):229-237.

Establishment of Reference Value Using Korean Adult Medical Checkup Data and Interpretation of Test Results

• Lee JC
• Kim SK
• Lee CK
• Lee SG
• Lee HS
• Cho KJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is room for doubt that the reference intervals currently used in many hospitals or health institutions in Korea are appropriate, because some scientists do not agree that the selections of reference individuals were valid universally. If we adopt the inappropriate reference intervals in the decision making of examinees' health status, we are liable to lead to false-negatives or false-positives.
METHODS
We selected 555 healthy and 2,134 unhealthy adult samples who took medical check-up at an institution between 2000 and 2004 through semi-stratified random sampling method. Disease groups were divided into 7 subgroups: hepatic, gastrointestinal, obesity, circulatory, endocrine, urogenital and others.
RESULTS
Through parametric and non-parametric methods, we produced new reference intervals and compared the newly developed intervals with current ones. Some reference values should be adjusted newly; ALT-male < or =33 IU/L, ALT-female < or =22 IU/L, AST < or =28 IU/L, cholesterol < or =198 mg/dL, triglyceride-male < or =172 mg/dL, triglyceride-female < or =133 mg/dL, fasting blood sugar 65-101 mg/dL.
CONCLUSIONS
In order to reduce the rate of false-positives or false-negatives, we suggest that reference ranges of some items might be reestablished or adjusted according to gender through the further studies on current reference ranges.

Keyword

Reference Value Partitioning; Reference Range; Medical Checkup; False Positive; False Negative

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Blood Glucose
Cholesterol
Decision Making
Fasting
Humans
Korea
Obesity
Reference Values*
Blood Glucose
Cholesterol