Reference value for cardiac troponin I in a multi-ethnic group

The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of cardiac troponin I (cTnl) values, measured by the ADVIA Tnl-Ultra method in a multi-ethnic group and to determine the imprecision of the assay. The study population comprised 234 men and 208 women and the age range was 18–73 years. Recruitment was aimed at enrolling different races and comprised 186 Malays, 136 Chinese and 120 Indians. We evaluated the analytical performance the ultra sensitive cardiac troponin I (cTnI) assay. The mean values for cTnl for male and female were 0.011μg/L and 0.010μg/L respectively. No significant difference was noted between male and female populations (p>0.05). The 99th percentile for ADVIA Tnl-Ultra was 0.061μg/L. The mean values of cTn in Malay, Chinese and Indian groups were 0.011, 0.011 and 0.011μg/L, respectively. There was no significant difference between the different ethnic populations (p>0.05). The assay imprecision was less than 10% at concentrations higher than 0.036μg/L. ADVIA TnI-Ultra assay showed no difference in the troponin values among different ethnic groups and between males and females. Hence a single cut-off value based on the 99th percentile can be used.