Determination of community-based reference intervals for selected clinical chemistry parameters among apparently healthy adult individuals in Mekelle city, Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia from December 2018 to May 2019: a cross sectional study.
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Reference Intervals (RIs) are important tools to differentiate health and disease
individuals. Establishment of RIs specific for a given area is highly recommended, since RI vary
from place to place based on genetics, lifestyle, environmental and nutritional factors. Although
few studies have been conducted in Ethiopia to determine RI for clinical chemistry in the Amhara
region and Gilgel gibe, they are limited to the specific population and there is no such study
conducted in Tigrai. Therefore; this study aimed to determine RIs for selected clinical chemistry
parameters among apparently healthy adult individuals in Mekelle city, Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia.
Objective: To determine community-based reference intervals for selected clinical chemistry
parameters among apparently healthy adult individuals in Mekelle city, Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia
from December 2018 to May 2019.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted to establish RI for selected clinical chemistry test
among apparently healthy adult individuals in Mekelle city, Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia from
December 2018 to May 2019. A total of 344 apparently healthy Study participants were selected
based on structured questionnaire, physical examinations, parasitological, and urinalysis. SPSS
version 23 was used to analyze the data. RI was determined using 2.5
th
and 97.5
percentiles and
P value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Result: A RI was established for ten clinical chemistry tests. Among them, three parameters had
no sex difference [total protein (5.9-8.25 g/dl), albumin (4.3-5.5 g/dl) and fasting blood sugar
(73.7-115mg/dl)]; whereas the other seven had a statistically significant between the sexes:
alkaline phosphatase (U/L) [49.3-152 and 58.3-178.6], alanine aminotransferase (U/L) [4.2-23.6
and 5.2-33], aspartate aminotransferase, (U/L) [12.3-34.1 and 15.2-36.74], bilirubin direct (mg/dl)
[0.0114-0.553 and 0.019-0.606], bilirubin total (mg/dl) [0.075-0.84 and 0.15-1.08], Urea (mg/dl)
[8.05-22.85 and 8.7-26.075], and creatinine (mg/dl) [0.46-0.96 and 0.42-1.153] for female and
male respectively.
Conclusion: There was a significant difference for ALP, ALT, AST, BilD, BilT, Urea and
creatinine between sexes. This finding is important to improve the health system by providing
accurate RI.
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Keywords
Clinical chemistry tests, Clinical tests, Ethiopia, Reference interval, and Reference value