About This Web Site

The 2009 Asian study for derivation of common RIs was conducted by the Asia-Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry (APFCB) in collaboration with IFCC and JSCC. A total of 3500 well-defined healthy subjects were recruited in 64 clinical laboratories in 7 Asian countries. The assays consisted of 85 commonly-tested analytes, including CBC.

The study not only provided reliable RIs, with consideration of sex and age, but also revealed various biological sources of variation (SV) in many analytes by use of information from a detailed questionnaire: BMI, ABO blood group, menstrual cycle, alcohol, smoking, exercise, etc.

Although major results for 72 analytes and for isozymes for 3 enzymes were published, there is a host of information relevant to laboratory diagnosis which remains unexplored, such as correlations of values between any pair of analytes or commonality of values across the groups of analytes.

This web-site not only provides the documents already published but also offers an interactive graphical data viewer which is useful for the practice and learning of evidence-based laboratory medicine (EBLM).

  • Asia-Pacific Federation for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (APFCB)
    Web site: http://www.apfcb.org
  • International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC)
    Web site: http://www.ifcc.org
Three Viewers to explore evidence relevant for EBLM
As an interactive tool for retrieving evidence relevant for laboratory diagnosis, the following three menus are provided in this web site:
(1) Source of Variation (SV) Viewer
Select the SV of interest from the list. It will be used for partitioning reference values of the test item you choose.
(2) Age Profile Viewer
Choose just one test to see the age-related change in reference values.
(3) Correlation Viewer
Choose the two items to be plotted on X- and Y-axes.
For all viewer functions, it is possible to filter out records which have values inappropriate for the analysis. It is also possible to adjust the displayed range of values and to specify the value for power transformation of values.
(SV) Viewer Age Profile Viewer Correlation Viewer
Sources of Variation(SV) for Test Items
Available SV
  • Country (JPN, KOR, CHN, TPE, VIE, INA, MAS)
  • BMI (-18, 18-22, 22-26, 26- [kg/m2])
  • Age (-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60- [years])
  • Blood Group (A, B, O, AB)
  • Smoking level (0, 1-20, 20- /Day)
  • Drinking level (EtOH ≤ 0, 0 < EtOH < 12.5, 12.5 ≤ EtOH < 25, 25 ≤ EtOH < 50, 50 < EtOH g/Day)
Available Test Items
  • Hematology (13 items)
    WBC, RBC, Hb, Ht, PLT, Neu, Eos, Bas, Mon, Lym, MCV, MCHC, MCH
  • Chemicalassay (24 items)
    Enzymes: AST, ALT, LD, ALP, GGT, CK, AMY, LIP
    Lipids: TCho, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C
    Electrolytes: Na, K, Cl, Ca, IP, Fe, UIBC
    Others: TP, Alb, CRE, Urea, UA
  • Turbidometry (18 items)
    CRP, IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, Tf, TTR
    RBP, CysC, ASO, SAA, ApoA1, ApoB, ApoE, LP(a)
    PG1, PG2
  • Immunoassay (28 items)
    Tumormarkers: PSA, CEA, AFP, CA19-9, CA15-3, CA125, Ferritin
    Endocrinology:FT4, FT3, TSH, Tg, FSH, LH, PRL, EPO, Cortisol, Estradiol, Progesterone, Testosterone, DHEA-S, PTH, Insulin, Adiponectin
    Miscellaneous: IgE, VitB12, Folate, BoneALP, TRAP-5b
List of Abbreviations
Standardized analytes
Abbr Analytes
Alb Albumin
Urea Urea
UA Uric acid
CRE Creatinine
Na Sodium
K Potassium
Cl Chloride
Ca Total serum calcium
Glu glucose
TCho total cholesterol
TG Triglyceride
HDL-C HDL-cholesterol
LDL-C LDL-choleterol
AST Aspartate aminotransferase
AST-JSCC
ALT Alanine aminotransferase
ALT-JSCC
LD Lactate dehydrogenase
LD-JSCC
ALP Alkaline phosphatase
ALP-JSCC
GGT Gamma-glutamyltransferase
GGT-JSCC
CK Creatine kinase
CK-JSCC
AMY Amylase
IgG Immunoglobulin G
IgA Immunoglobulin A
IgM Immunoglobulin M
C3 complement component 3
C4 complement component 4
CRP C-reactive protein
TTR Transthyretin(prealbumin)
Tf Transferrin
Testo Testosterone
E2 Estradiol
Prog Progesterone
Cortisol Cortisol
Non-standardized analytes
Abbr Analytes
TP Protein, total
CysC Cystatin C
IP Inorganic phosphate
Fe Iron
UIBC Unsaturated iron-binding capacity
Apo A1 Apolipoprotein A-I
Apo B Apolipoprotein B
Apo E Apolipoprotein E
Lp(a) Lipoprotein (a)
LIP Lipase
IgE immunoglobulin E
SAA Serum amyloid A
RBP Retinol-binding protein
ASO Anti-streptolysin O
sTf-R Soluble transferrin receptor
Ferritin Ferritin
EPO Erythropoietin
VitB12 Vitamin B12
Folate Folic acid
AFP α-fetoprotein
CEA Carcinoembryonic antigen
CA19-9 Carbohydrate antigen 19-9
CA15-3 Carbohydrate antigen 15-3
CA125 Carbohydrate antigen 125
PSA Prostate-specific antigen
PG1 Pepsinogen I
PG2 Pepsinogen II
DHEA-S Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
PRL Prolactin
LH Luteinizing hormone
FSH Follicle-stimulating hormone
TSH Thyroid-stimulating hormone
FT4 Free thyroxine
FT3 Free triiodothyronine
Tg Thyroglobulin
Insulin Insulin
ADP Adiponectin
PTH Intact parathyroid hormone
BAP Bone alkaline phospatase
TRAP-5b Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b
Hematology analytes
Abbr Analytes
WBC White blood cell
RBC Red blood cell
Hb Hemoglobin
Ht Hematocrit
PLT Platelets
Neu Neutrophil
Eos Eosinophil
Bas Basophil
Mon Monocyte
Lym Lymphocyte 
MCV Mean corpuscular volume
MCHC Mean cell hemoglobin concentration
MCH Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin