Measurement of 17-Alpha Hydroxyprogesterone on a State-of-the-Art ABEI-Based Chemiluminescence System – Establishment of Upper Reference Limit

Background: 17 alpha Hydroxyprogesterone (17a-OHP) is the most commonly used test for the screening and diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in neonates. Establishment of Upper Reference Limit (URL) of 17a-OHP using an ABEI-Based chemiluminescence autoanalysers has been done for the first time in Pakistan. Methods and Materials: Out of 187 neonates included in the study, serum specimens of 139 disease-free neonates (<30 days of age) were collected in Mohi Uddin Teaching Hospital Mirpur AJ&K (MOTH) after taking consent from the mothers of the kids. Excluding ten haemolysed specimens, 129 samples were analyzed in the Pathology Laboratory of MOTH using Maglumi X8 (Snibe, Shenzhen, China), an ABEI (N-(aminobutil)-N-(ethyl)-isoluminol)-based system. Three results were declared outliers, rest were used for calculation of URL of 17a-OHP. Results: The 99th Percentile URL of 17-OHP was found to be 4.7 nmol/L in 126 samples Conclusion: A cut-off value of 4.7 nmol/L (156 ng/dl) can be used for the exclusion of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Pakistan Children Keywords: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia; 17 Hydroxyprogesterone; 21 Hydroxylase deficiency