Comparison of three indirect methods for verification and validation of reference intervals at eight medical laboratories: a European multicenter study

Abstract

Indirect methods for the indirect estimation of reference intervals are increasingly being used, especially for validation of reference intervals, as they can be applied to routine patient data. In this study, we compare three statistically different indirect methods for the verification and validation of reference intervals in eight laboratories distributed throughout Europe.

Keywords

• indirect methods
• reference intervals
• reference limits
• refiner
• reflim
• truncated maximum likelihood (tml)
• validation
• verification