Graham Jones wrote:
.. in the absence of a decent theoretical construct we need to rely on that
lowly form of decision making: expert opinion. My two bobs worth would be
as follows:
Creatinine: report to the nearest 10 umol/L (0.01 mmol/L) for all results.
Urea: report to the nearest 0.1 mmol/L up to 10 mmol/L then to the nearest
1 mmol/L.
Although I would not wish to contend any of the theoretical reasons for doing this I think that there are practical considerations.
Using two one decimal place for low ureas and another for high values could cause problems when results are written down after phone calls. It's safer to have the same number of decimal places for all results on a particular analyte.
In the case of creatinine the units used in the UK are mmol/L for urine and umol/L for serum/plasma. In my opinion reporting 111umol/L rather than 110 although giving a false impression of the achievable precision would result in clearer printed reports. If I remember correctly SI units should such that most results are in the 1 to 999 range. If most results are outside this range you should use different units. So umol/L rather than mmol/L should be used for serum creatinine.
--
Mike Collins
BMS3
Clinical Biochemistry & Immunology
Leeds Infirmary, Old Medical School
Thoresby Place, Leeds LS1 3EX
UK
44 (0) 113 392 2915
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www.leedsteachinghospitals.com
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