A self-consistent set of reference values for 23 clinical chemical analytes.

Heparinized plasma of 528 blood donors was subjected to the 23 most frequently ordered chemical and enzymatic tests. The central fraction of the distribution of all results for each test was estimated. Out of the 528 donors a reference population has been selected. Because of the lack of other criteria, the result for any test of a blood donor was selected as a value belonging to the reference population if the results for the other 22 analytes of this particular donor lay within their own central fraction. On this basis an iterative procedure for the selection was programmed, considering the interaction between tests. The procedure was stopped when the reference limits for all 23 tests were converging. Fractions from 0.90 to 0.98 were applied to results for men and women donors separately. The elimination procedure and the criteria to select the best fitted fraction are discussed. The derived reference intervals are designated a "self-consistent set of reference values."