Hirooka Y, Gotoh M, Takagi J, Otake K, Mori Y, Habu S, Nogimori T
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Aichi-gun, Aichi-pref. 480-1195.
Rinsho Byori. 2001 Nov;49(11):1122-8.
We tried to investigate the present problems, concerning the reference individual and interval in thyroid function tests and find the solutions for them. We are now using healthy adults for the reference individual and interval. Recently, we found the sex-difference and age-related changes for reference individual and interval in free T3 measurement. We raised the questions on whether there are any sex-differences and/or age-related changes or not. Surprisingly, there were almost no detailed data about them especially in Japan. Therefore, we examined the Europe data, and found out some kind of sex-differences and age-related changes. We propose the following examinations using many Japanese population in order to provide a precise and proper reference individual and interval: 1. Whether there are any sex-difference in thyroid function tests? 2. Whether there are age-related change in thyroid function tests, for instance, simply dividing population into the immature, adult and the aged?
