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Reference ranges for common blood tests



A reference range is a set of values used by a health professional to interpret a set of medical test results. The range is usually defined as the set of values 95% of the normal population falls within.

The reference range will vary, depending on the age, sex and race of a population, and even the instruments the laboratory uses to perform the tests. Furthermore, by definition, 5% of the normal population will fall outside the reference range.

  • Items marked with a ** are part of "CHEM-7"[1] and CHEM-20
  • Items marked with a * are part of "CHEM-20"[2], but not CHEM-7

Contents

Proteins

CategoryTestLowHighUnitComments
Liver function tests * Total Protein 60 80 g/L
* Albumin 35[3] 50 g/L
* Total Bilirubin 2 14 μmol/L
* Direct Bilirubin 0 4 μmol/L
* Alanine transaminase (ALT) 8 40 U/L Also called serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT)
* Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) 40 130 U/L Higher in children and pregnant women.
* Gamma glutamyl transferase n/a 50 U/L
Tumour markers Alpha fetoprotein (AFP) n/a 10 kU/l
Alpha1-AntiTrypsin (AAT) 20 53 mmol/L 150-350 mg/dL
Beta Human chorionic gonadotrophin (bHCG) n/a 5 IU/l
CA-125 (also CA12.5) n/a 35 U/ml
CA15.3 n/a 28 U/ml
CA19.9 n/a 40 U/ml
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) - non-smokers n/a 3 μg/l
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) - smokers n/a 5 μg/l
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) n/a 4 μg/L
Hormones Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) 0.4 4.7 mIU/L Also called: Thyrotropin
Free thyroxine (FT4) 9 24 pmol/L
Free triiodothyronine (FT3) 2.5 5.3 pmol/L
Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) 1.3 15 pmol/L
Cortisol (0830 h) 250 850 nmol/L Cortisol levels are higher in the morning than at night.
Cortisol (1630 h) 110 390 nmol/L
Prolactin (male) n/a 450 mIU/L
(female) n/a 580 mIU/L
Testosterone (male) 8 38 nmol/L
(male prepuberty) 0.1 0.5 nmol/L
(female) 0.3 2.5 nmol/L
Other enzymes and proteins Creatine kinase (CK) - male 24[4] 195 U/L
Creatine kinase (CK) - female 24[5] 170 U/L
* Aspartate transaminase (AST) 8 35 U/L Also called serum glutamic oxatoacetic transaminase (SGOT)
* Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) 85 285 U/L
Amylase n/a 120[6] U/L
C-reactive protein (CRP) n/a 5[7] mg/L
D-dimer n/a 500 ng/mL

Smaller molecules

CategoryTestLowHighUnitComments
Acid base physiologys
More values and interpretation in Arterial blood gas
pH 7.35 7.45
PO2 10 13 kPa
** PCO2 4.8 5.8 kPa
HCO3- 21 27 mM
SBCe 21 27 mM
base excess -3 +3
HPO42− 0.8 1.5 [8] mM
Electrolytes and Metabolites[9] ** Sodium (Na) 136 145 mmol/L
** Potassium (K) 3.5 4.5 mmol/L
Urea 2.5 6.4 mmol/L ** BUN - blood urea nitrogen
7 18 mg/dL
** Creatinine - male 62 115 μmol/L May be complemented with creatinine clearance
** Creatinine - female 53 97 μmol/L
** Creatinine - male 0.7 1.3 mg/dL
** Creatinine - female 0.6 1.1 mg/dL
** Glucose (fasting) 3.9 5.8 mmol/L See also glycosylated hemoglobin
70 105 mg/dL
osmolarity <300 >300 mOsm/l
Other ions and trace metals Ionised calcium (Ca) 1.15 1.29 mmol/L Some calcium is bound to albumin, thus not measured by certain techniques.
4.6 5.2 mg/dL
* Total calcium (Ca) 2.05 2.55 mmol/L
8.2 10.2 mg/dL
Copper (Cu) 11[10] 24 μmol/L
Chloride (Cl) 98 106 μmol/L
Bicarbonate (HCO3) 18 23 mmol/L
Zinc (Zn) 10 17 μmol/L
Blood lipids Triglycerides 0.4 2 mmol/L
* Total cholesterol 3 5.0[11] mmol/L
HDL cholesterol (male) 0.7 1.9 mmol/L
(female) 0.9 2.4 mmol/L
LDL cholesterol 2.4 3[11] mmol/L Not valid when triglycerides >5.0 mmol/L.

Hematology

CategoryTestLowHighUnitComments
Red blood cells Haemoglobin (Hb) (male) 140 180 g/L Higher in neonates, lower in children.
Haemoglobin (Hb) (female) 115 160 g/L Sex difference negligible until adulthood.
Haematocrit (Hct) (male) 0.38 0.52
Haematocrit (Hct) (female) 0.35 0.47
Mean cell volume (MCV) 80 98 fL Cells are larger in neonates, though smaller in other children.
Mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) 26 34 pg
Red cell count (male) 4.5 6.5 x1012/L
Red cell count (female) 3.8 5.8 x1012/L
Reticulocytes 10 100 x109/L
erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) n/a 20 mm/hr Females tend to have a higher ESR. ESR increases with age.
White blood cells The Total white blood cells 4 11 x109/L Higher in neonates and infants.
Neutrophil granulocytes 2 7.5 x109/L 45-74%. Also known as granulocytes (grans), polys, PMNs, or segs.
Lymphocytes 1.3 4 x109/L 16-45%
Monocytes 0.2 0.8 x109/L 4.0-10%
Eosinophil granulocytes 0.04 0.4 x109/L 0.0-7.0%
Basophil granulocytes 0.01 0.1 x109/L 0.0-2.0%
Coagulation Platelets 150 400 x109/L Platelets are part of the formation of blood clots
Prothrombin time (PT)[12] 11 13.5 s PT reference varies between laboratory kits - INR is standardised
INR 0.9 1.2 The INR is a corrected ratio of a patients PT to normal
Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) 29 41 s
Thrombin clotting time (TCT) 11 18 s
Fibrinogen 1.8 4 g/L
Bleeding time 2 9 minutes

Immunology

CategoryTestLowHighUnitComments
Acute phase protein markers of Inflammation Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) 0 (Age, +10 if female)/2 mm/hr
C-reactive protein (CRP) 0 6 mg/L
Autoantibodies Antinuclear antibodies (ANA)
Extractable nuclear antigen (ENA)
Rheumatoid factor (RF) 0 20 IU/mL High levels not specific for Rheumatoid Arthritis alone.
Serology Antistreptolysin O titre (ASOT) - preschoolers n/a 100 units/mL
Antistreptolysin O titre (ASOT) - others n/a 200 units/mL

See also

References

  1. ^ MedlinePlus Encyclopedia 003462
  2. ^ MedlinePlus Encyclopedia 003468
  3. ^ 288686147 at GPnotebook
  4. ^ 1436155929 at GPnotebook
  5. ^ 1436155929 at GPnotebook
  6. ^ 309002307 at GPnotebook
  7. ^ 946536472 at GPnotebook
  8. ^ Walter F., PhD. Boron. Medical Physiology: A Cellular And Molecular Approaoch. Elsevier/Saunders. ISBN 1-4160-2328-3.  Page 849
  9. ^ C. A. Burtis and E. R. Ashwood, Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry (1994) 2nd edition, ISBN 0-7216-4472-4
  10. ^ 1040580630 at GPnotebook
  11. ^ a b -214630397 at GPnotebook
  12. ^ MedlinePlus Encyclopedia 003652
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Reference_ranges_for_common_blood_tests". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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