Misuse of Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures

To the Editor: The Sounding Board article (Nov. 18 issue) 1 by Griner and Glaser should not go unquestioned. The authors opine that the prevalence of marked electrolyte disturbances in healthy persons not receiving medication approaches 1 in 1000. They argue that the electrolyte component of the SMA-6 is therefore not useful in screening. I am not surprised that the prevalence of abnormalities in the population, as defined, would be 1 in 1000. The population the authors describe is of the type that, if we are lucky, we try to employ for establishing normal ranges. It is unclear to me that . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.