Indirect Methods for Reference Intervals Based on Current Data: The authors of the article cited above respond:

[摘要] We appreciate the interest of colleagues in our approach to the definition of reference values (1). They point out the complexity of our suggested statistical procedure compared with a simpler approach, and they highlight differences between our and their reference intervals for serum thyrotropin (TSH), with special reference to the upper reference limit (URL).Concerning the first point, we recognized in our report that the application of our procedure needs the cooperation of an expert statistician and, of course, the availability of a large computerized database. However, our approach aimed to define the reference limits for several quantities commonly measured in serum (actually 36), based on the large nondiseased population of individuals referred to our center, without having detailed clinical information on …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学