Background

A recent attempt to improve the diagnostic value of adjusted calcium addressed a primary care-specific adjusted calcium equation, but validated the new equation for Roche Cobas, BCG and NM-BAPTA methods only. In this study, we aim to validate a population-specific equation for other methods and platforms.

Method

We collected retrospective patient data-sets from 15 hospital laboratories using a range of commercially available analytical platforms and methods for calcium and albumin measurements. Raw data-sets were collected and filtered according to Payne’s criteria, and separate adjusted calcium equations were derived for hospitalized and primary care patients.

Results

Mean albumin and calcium results were significantly higher in primary care populations (P < 0.0001). The prevalence of hypocalcaemia using adjusted calcium ranged between 6% and 44% for inpatient data-sets and was higher in users of BCG methods. The application of community-specific adjustment equation to primary care data-sets reduced the prevalence of hypocalcaemia (mean 1.7%, range 0.8–3.7%).

Conclusion

We demonstrated that the use of a community-specific calcium adjustment equation to a primary care population reduces both the percentage and the variation of hypocalcaemia between different laboratories.

中文翻译：

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不同分析平台和方法对特定人群调整钙方程性能的影响。

背景

最近一项提高调整钙诊断价值的尝试解决了针对初级保健的调整钙方程，但仅验证了 Roche Cobas、BCG 和 NM-BAPTA 方法的新方程。在这项研究中，我们旨在为其他方法和平台验证特定人群的方程。

方法

我们使用一系列商用分析平台和钙和白蛋白测量方法从 15 个医院实验室收集了回顾性患者数据集。根据佩恩的标准收集和过滤原始数据集，并为住院和初级保健患者导出单独的调整钙方程。

结果

初级保健人群的平均白蛋白和钙结果显着更高（P  <  0.0001）。对于住院患者数据集，使用调整钙的低钙血症发生率在 6% 到 44% 之间，并且在使用 BCG 方法的用户中更高。将社区特定的调整方程应用于初级保健数据集可降低低钙血症的患病率（平均 1.7%，范围 0.8-3.7%）。

结论

我们证明了对初级保健人群使用社区特定的钙调整方程可以降低不同实验室之间低钙血症的百分比和变化。