Biochemistry reference intervals for healthy elderly population in Asmara, Eritrea

Abstract

ObjectiveThere is a scarcity of reference interval studies on the elderly in Africa. This study establishes reference interval for the elderly for some commonly used biochemical parameters. In this study, 255 conveniently sampled, healthy elderly, participants meeting Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI C28-A3) guidelines were enrolled. The results obtained may have utility in clinical diagnosis, patient management and research.ResultsIn general, the consensus reference interval established in this study tended to be higher than reference interval from Caucasian populations; but lower than those obtained from reference interval studies in several African countries. This pattern was observed in a number of analytes including Alanine aminotransferase; aspartate aminotransferase; alkaline phosphatase; sodium; potassium among others. Significant sex-related variations were also observed in total bilirubin; direct bilirubin; indirect bilirubin; albumin; sodium; chloride; plasma carbon dioxide, creatinine and anion gap. The results demonstrate that reference interval for Eritrean urban population differs from those derived from other African or North American populations. In this regard, the use of reference interval values obtained from Caucasian populations may result in misdiagnosis.

Reference intervals of common clinical biochemistry analytes in young Nigerian adults

“…Out of 7,797 volunteers, a total of 1,628 were excluded. According to CLSI and IFCC recommendations, studies aimed at establishing Reference Intervals should have a minimum of 120 healthy participants in each category of the grouping variable [ 3 , 13 ]. With the enrolment of 5932 males and 237 females, this requirement was exceeded in our study.…”

Age- and Sex-Specific Reference Intervals for Myocardial Enzyme Activity in Healthy Chinese Han Population Aged 1∼<18 years

“…Research studies find [2][3][4][5] RIs are with variety of factors involved such as race, region, ethnicity, diet, and so on. For example, Wu et al [6] found that lower limit of the platelet interval in Chinese Han adults was slightly lower than that of the peer group in the United States [7] and Malaysia [8], and RIs of white blood cell count and neutrophil count were lower than those of the homologous US population [7] while higher than those of the Africans [9]; Oliver's research [10] showed that RIs of certain biochemical indicators of the aged living in Asmara, Eritrea, were higher than those of Caucasians and lower than those of South Africans. For example, the actual upper limit of total bilirubin was 2 times higher than it was recommended by the Eritrean Ministry of Health; the median of creatine kinase (CK) activity of healthy black adults was about twice higher than Caucasians in both sexes [11].…”

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“…Nigerian public health laboratories, like most clinical laboratories in Africa, rely on reference intervals obtained from textbooks, instrument manuals and reagent inserts for interpretation of laboratory results [8,9,13,14]. This study has shown decreased lower reference limits and higher upper limits with wider overall reference intervals for most of our study analytes when compared to western values.…”