ESTABLISHING IN-HOUSE REFERENCE INTERVALS FOR DOGS IN VETERINARY CLINICS

Abstract

Reference interval (RIs) were critical to the identification of illness. However, RIs set in one laboratory may not be appropriate for another because of biological, geographical and instrumental factors. Interpretation of clinical data using inappropriate RIs may cause misclassification of results and misdiagnosis that lead to improper treatment. RIs in Taiwan have been mostly referencing from foreign resources, it is desirable to establish one that is closer to the overall conditions in Taiwan (such as breed, climate, diseases, etc.) and to investigate its differences to foreign RIs. The present study used the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ASVCP) guidelines to establish in-house RIs for hematological, biochemical and coagulation parameters using dogs in middle Taiwan. The results were also compared to two foreign and one local RIs. The results suggested that the hematological RIs are more comparable to foreign RIs than the biochemical and hemostatic parameters. Differences were found for biochemical parameters including gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lipase, uric acid, bile acid, bilirubin and magnesium; and coagulation parameters including prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin. In all, 18% (7/40) of the all tested parameters were different from the local RI while 38% (18/48) and 41% (19/46) of the parameters were different from the two foreign RIs. The differences in more than 30% RIs and better similarities to local RIs underscore the importance of having own RIs if possible.