Establishment of reference interval for serum protein electrophoresis of apparently healthy adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2020-07
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Serum protein electrophoresis is a laboratory technique routinely employed for
the identification of patients with multiple myeloma and other disorders of serum protein
fractions. Even though, several factors affect reference intervals, company derived values are
currently in use, and little or no data is available in resource limited setting countries like
Ethiopia. Therefore, the current study will establish reference interval for serum protein fractions
which serve as baseline data for the diagnosis, interpretation and monitoring of problems
associated with serum proteins fractions in clinical laboratories.
Objective: To establish reference interval for serum protein electrophoresis of apparently
healthy adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Method: A cross-sectional study design was conducted on a total of 297 apparently healthy
adults from April-October 2019 in four selected sub cities (Akaki, Kirkos, Arada, Yeka) of
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Socio-demographic data were obtained from previously collected
reference interval study data while laboratory analysis of collected samples was performed using
Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing analyzer. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and exported to
SPSS version 23 and med-cal software for analysis. Data was explored and tested by
Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) and Shapiro-Wilk test of normality and Mann-Whitney test to check
Partitions. For p≥0.05, the data was considered as normally distributed. Non-parametric method
of reference range establishment was performed as per CLSI guideline EP28A3C. The lower and
upper limits, including 95% distribution with 90% confidence intervals, were calculated. The
results were expressed as percentages and absolute concentration and presented by tables
accordingly.
Result: The established RIs were: Albumin 53.83-64.59%, 52.24-63.55%; Alpha-1 globulin
3.04-5.40%, 3.44-5.60%; Alpha-2 globulin 8.0-12.67%, 8.44-12.87%; and Beta-1 globulin 5.017.38%,
5.14-7.86%.
Moreover,
Albumin
to
globulin
ratio
was
1.16-1.8,
1.09-1.74
for
male
and
female,
respectively. The combined RIs for Beta-2 globulin and Gamma globulin were 2.544.90%
and
12.40-21.66%,
respectively.
Conclusion:
The current study established reference interval for serum protein fractions and
revealed gender specific differences in reference interval except for Beta-2 globulin and Gamma
globulin.
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Keywords
Serum protein electrophoresis, reference interval, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia