A reference range, also called reference interval or reference range, is a range of values to which your lab results will be compared. These are the lab values in which the values of 95% of healthy people are. It’s often difficult to compare your lab results to standard reference ranges, as your results can depend on many factors such as your age, sex, what was collected (blood, urine etc) as well as your diet and exercise. Also, it is important to remember that the reference range may change per lab, as they might have different equipment, test reagents and techniques for the analysis. Ask your doctor or healthcare provider what your lab values mean for you specifically.
Sources:
- American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) – Lab Tests Online. Reference Ranges and What They Mean. https://labtestsonline.org/articles/laboratory-test-reference-ranges (accessed 8. August 2020)
- NIH: National Cancer Institute. reference range. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/reference-range (accessed 8. August 2020)
- Jones G. et al. Reference Intervals. Clin Biochem Rev. 2008 Aug; 29(Suppl 1): S93–S97. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556592/
