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. 2023 Jan;11(1):e751.
doi: 10.1002/iid3.751.

Updated total IgE reference intervals in Norwegian adults

Erik Wilhelm Vinnes  1 , Birthe Skarbø  1 , Tore Wentzel-Larsen  2   3   4 , Marit S Sylte  1 , Torunn Oveland Apelseth  5   6   7
Affiliations

Updated total IgE reference intervals in Norwegian adults

Erik Wilhelm Vinnes et al. Immun Inflamm Dis. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Background: It is important and expected of laboratories to provide updated reference intervals to the clinician. As no recent publications report adult total IgE reference intervals on a Scandinavian population, the aim of our study was therefore to provide an estimate on healthy Norweigian adults.

Methods: A reference interval study was conducted in accordance to CLSI guidelines. Samples were collected from n = 252 presumably healthy adult participants enrolled through the regional blood donation program. Total IgE measurements were performed on the ImmunoCAPTM platform (Thermo Fisher Diagnostics) traceable to the WHO-reference standard (75/502) for total IgE measurements.

Results: An upper 95% total IgE reference limit was estimated to 302 kU/L (90% CI 177-388 kU/L), and the 97.5% percentile was estimated to 391 kU/L (90% CI 344-560 kU/L). No significant differences were found between participants who self-reported having an allergic disease and participants who did not self-report having an allergic disease.

Conclusion: Our results and other recent publications find markedly higher values than adult reference intervals established four decades ago which still remain widely used by clinical laboratories. We therefore recommend total IgE reference intervals should be critically reviewed and updated.

Keywords: immunoglobulin E; in vitro allergy testing; reference intervals; reference range; reference values; total IgE.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total IgE values (kU/L) amongst study participants. Grey displays all participants (n = 245). Pink displays the sub‐group who self‐reported having allergy (n = 112) and blue shows participants who did not self‐report having allergy (n = 133). Data points evaluated as outliers are shown as solid points (n = 3 excluded outliers).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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