Reference Ranges

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Reference Ranges

  • Reference ranges provide an expected range of values in the general healthy population for a given analyte.
  • Reference ranges (normal values) should reflect the mean value in the population and a certain level of variation (usually 2 standard deviations).
  • 95% of all normal patients will fall inside the reference range of an analyte. Values outside the reference ranges may indicate an abnormality in the patient or a problem with a given set of test results.
  • For example, should 20% of results suddenly begin to exceed a given reference range, there is most likely a testing error.