National and international initiatives and approaches for the establishment of reference intervals in pediatric laboratory medicine.

SUB-Saharan Africa; CANADA; ETHIOPIA; GERMANY; MELANESIA; SAUDI Arabia; SCANDINAVIA; UNITED States

Thoroughly validated laboratory medicine reference intervals for children of all ages groups have been published increasingly during the last years. The aim of this review is to present a number of these studies and the various approaches to the generation of reference intervals. Population-based data obtained in large cohorts of healthy children in Germany, Northern Europe, North America, and selected other countries as well as patient-derived data collected in many areas of the world are discussed. Additionally, special research aspects such as reference intervals for preterm neonates, preanalytical issues, intraindividual variation of analytes, or follow-up studies that are covered in many of these studies are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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