‘Aussie Normals’: an a priori study to develop reference intervals in a healthy Australian population using the Beckman Coulter LH 750 Haematology Analyser as candidates for harmonised values

• Published in: Pathology Vol. 49; no. 5; pp. 518 - 525
• Main Authors: Koerbin, G., Potter, J.M., Andriolo, K., West, N.P., Glasgow, N., Hawkins, C., Cavanaugh, J.A., Hickman, P.E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 01.08.2017
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Australia; bias; Blood Cell Count - instrumentation; Cohort Studies; Female; Haematology; harmonisation; Hematology - standards; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; reference intervals; Reference Standards; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; reference intervals; Haematology; harmonisation; bias
• ISSN: 0031-3025; 1465-3931
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pathol.2017.04.003

Reference limits or intervals are important benchmarks or tools that help the clinician to distinguish between a result that is most likely to lie within a ‘healthy’ or diseased category. It has been suggested that a review of haematology reference intervals is long overdue. In this study we report on our findings for analytes routinely measured in a complete blood count (CBC) performed on the Beckman Coulter LH 750 analyser and an additional comparative study using the Beckman Coulter LH 750, the Sysmex XN and Abbott Sapphire. The results from the comparative study indicate that bias would not prevent harmonisation of reference intervals for these common haematology parameters. The results offered by the Aussie Normals study represent good candidates as the basis for harmonisation reference intervals.