Laboratory reference intervals in the assessment of iron status in young children

BMJ Paediatr Open. 2017 Aug 31;1(1):e000074. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2017-000074. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Objectives: The primary objective was to establish reference intervals for laboratory tests used to assess iron status in young children using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. A secondary objective was to compare the lower limit of the reference interval with the currently recommended cut-off value for haemoglobin and serum ferritin in children 1-3 years of age.

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from healthy children recruited during scheduled health supervision visits with their primary care physician. For our primary objective, outliers were removed; age partitions were selected and analysis of variance and pairwise comparisons were made between adjacent partitions; reference intervals and 90% CIs were calculated. For our secondary objective, we determined the proportion of children misclassified using the lower limit reference interval compared with the cut-off value.

Results: Samples from 2305 male and 2029 female participants (10 days to 10.6 years) were used to calculate age and sex-specific reference intervals for laboratory tests of iron status. There were statistically significant differences between adjacent age partitions for most analytes. Approximately 10% of children 1-3 years of age were misclassified (underestimated) using the lower limit of the reference intervals rather than the currently recommended cut-off values for haemoglobin and serum ferritin.

Implications and relevance: Clinical laboratories may consider adopting published paediatric reference intervals. Reference intervals may misclassify (underestimate) children with iron deficiency as compared with currently recommended cut-off values. Future research on decision limits derived from clinical studies of outcomes is a priority.

Keywords: decision limits; haemoglobin; iron deficiency; reference intervals; serum ferritin.