Within- and between-subject biological variations of follitropin, lutropin, testosterone, and sex-hormone-binding globulin in men

• Published in: Clinical chemistry (Baltimore, Md.) Vol. 39; no. 8; pp. 1723 - 1725
• Main Authors: Valero-Politi, J, Fuentes-Arderiu, X
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Assoc Clin Chem 01.08.1993; American Association for Clinical Chemistry
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of complex biological substances; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and biological fluids; Follicle Stimulating Hormone - blood; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Luteinizing Hormone - blood; Male; Middle Aged; Reference Values; Saliva - metabolism; Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin - metabolism; Testosterone - blood; Testosterone - metabolism; Human; Biological fluid; Testosterone; Chronobiology; Adenohypophyseal hormone; Steroid hormone; Sex hormone binding protein; Serum; FSH; LH; Normal
• ISSN: 0009-9147; 1530-8561
• DOI: 10.1093/clinchem/39.8.1723

The within-subject and between-subject biological variation of the serum concentrations of follitropin, lutropin, sex-hormone-binding globulin, and testosterone; the ratio between the serum concentrations of testosterone and sex-hormone-binding globulin; and the concentration of testosterone in saliva have been studied in a group of 20 men during 12 months. The between-subject coefficients of variation (CVs) were 36.0% for follitropin, 37.0% for lutropin, 42.7% for sex-hormone-binding globulin, 21.3% for testosterone in serum, 28.8% for testosterone in saliva, and 51.6% for the ratio between serum concentrations of testosterone and sex-hormone-binding globulin. The medians of the within-subject CVs for the respective analyses and ratio were 17.3%, 24.0%, 12.1%, 10.9%, 17.3%, and 9.4%. These data were used to calculate the desirable imprecision, the critical difference for significant change detection, and the index of individuality.