Intervalos de referencia de determinaciones bioquímicas en el laboratorio central del Hospital de Trelew

the aim of the present work was to establish the reference intervals of the following determinations, glucose, urea, cholesterol, total proteins, albumin, uric acid, creatinine, hematocrite and hemoglobin in the central laboratory of trelew zonal hospital. the population under study was defined as 18-year-old or older patients that came to the laboratory from the ambulatory consulting room since december 2008 to march 2009, and then between march and april 2011. blood samples were processed with a metrolab 2300 plus clinical chemistry autoanalyser and a sysmex 2100 hematological counter. after checking if the result distribution applied to a normal distribution, fractiles 0.025 and 0.975 were calculated to obtain a 95% reference interval (ri). in one case, a logarithmic transformation of the results was needed and for two categories a non-parametric method was used. for the upper and lower reference values, the intervals were calculated at 90% confidence (ci) the reference values obtained were; 0.74-1.07 g/l glucose, 0.19-0.51 g/l urea, 1.21-2.43 g/l cholesterol, 6.45-7.99g/dl total proteins, 3.62-4.61 g/dl albumin and 0.57-1.10 mg/dl creatinine, 18.69 - 51.93 mg/l uric acid in women, and 30.50 - 69.92 mg/l in men; 37 - 45% hematocrite in women and 40 - 50% in men; 11.70 - 15.17 g/dl hemoglobin in women and 13.09 - 17.19 g/dl hemoglobin in men. uric acid, hematocrite and hemoglobin values were calculated according to sex in order to offer concordance with commercial kit and the laboratory policies which consist in considering the significant differences between both sexes. the results obtained for glucose, albumin and hemoglobin were within the reference interval given by the commercial kits; urea, cholesterol, total protein and uric acid were above it; and creatinine reference interval was lower than the reference interval from the commercial kits.