The interpretation of clinical laboratory test results in the context of clinical information is done with regard to reference intervals (RI) most often obtained from investigations in healthy adult patients aged <60 years.

A physiological study, termed seniorlabor study, is under way in Switzerland having recruited so far (july 2011) over 1600 elderly men and women. After collection of fasting venous blood samples and freezing away serum and plasma, the material is banked and continuously analyzed with over 80 routinely used analyses in clinical medicine on the routine platforms of the center for laboratory medicine Dr. Risch, in Bern (Liebefeld).

Senior citizens – analogously to children- are not just elderly adults in terms of biological functioning: currently, laboratory reference intervals (RI) established with the working population are also used in the elderly; it has only rarely been shown for single parameters, that this practice would not be suitable.

To obtain better grounds to base clinical decisions, specific reference intervals (RI) for laboratory parameters of the elderly are urgently needed and the seniorlabor study sets out to publish its latest results along the road.

A first publication entitled "The Relationship of Leukocyte Anisocytosis to Holotranscobalamin, a Marker of Cobalamin Deficiency" is in press (International Journal of Laboratory Hematology).

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Last amendment: january 2012