Estimation of reference values in liver function test in health plan individuals of an urban south Indian population

Abstract

Reference intervals in clinical chemistry are commonly based on results of measurements in reference western population or are taken from the western literature. Reference Values are thought to aid physicians to interpret results of measurements and, should be representative of a defined group of individuals. This group should be as similar as possible to the patients under investigation. The reference population in this, study has been recruited from the individuals attending the Health Plan Clinic who fulfill the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as defined partition criteria. The samples were sorted based on the decision by the physician. The emerging group of individuals was considered as a reference population for the hospital patients and the results of measurements in this study was evaluated statistically, to stress on the urgent need to establish the in-house reference values. The reference limits are defined as the central 95 percentile of the population after eliminating the outliers. The lower, reference limit is the 2.5 percentile while the upper reference limit constituted the 97.5 percentile for the population.