Interpretation of reference intervals and clinical decision limits

Reference intervals (RI) and clinical decision limits (CDL) are an important part of th e medical information needed to interpret the results of a laboratory tests. The emphasis is on the need to distinguish between the two concepts. RI allows to assess the compliance of the patient’s result with the values detected in a healthy population with a certain probability. CDL is associated with specific diseases and medical risks and may be more significant for clinical decision-making than RI. When interpreting RI and CDL, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of divergence of results on different analytical systems as a potential source of erroneous medical decisions.