Pediatric reference intervals for general clinical chemistry components - merging of studies from Denmark and Sweden

Background: Reference intervals are crucial tools aiding clinicians when making medical decisions. However, for children such values often are lacking or incomplete. The present study combines data from separate pediatric reference interval studies of Denmark and Sweden in order to increase sample size and to include also pre-school children who were lacking in the Danish study. Methods: Results from two separate studies including 1988 healthy children and adolescents aged 6 months to 18 years of age were merged and recalculated. Eighteen general clinical chemistry components were measured on Abbott and Roche platforms. To facilitate commutability, the NFKK Reference Serum X was used. Results: Age- and gender-specific pediatric reference intervals were defined by calculating 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles. Conclusion: The data generated are primarily applicable to a Nordic population, but could be used by any laboratory if validated for the local patient population.