Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36266618›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2022

An innovative approach based on real-world big data mining for calculating the sample size of the reference interval established using transformed parametric and non-parametric methods.

Chaochao Ma, Li'an Hou, Yutong Zou, Xiaoli Ma, Danchen Wang, Yingying Hu, Ailing Song, Xinqi Cheng, Ling Qiu

Abstract read
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Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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3 · Its place in the literature

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2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Chaochao Ma *Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Li'an Hou *Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Yutong Zou *Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Xiaoli MaDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Danchen WangDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Yingying HuDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Ailing SongDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Xinqi ChengDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China.
Ling QiuDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 100730, Beijing, PR China. lingqiubj@163.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCurrently, the direct method is the main approach for establishment of reference interval (RI). However, only a handful of studies have described the effects of sample size on establishment of RI and estimation of sample size. We describe a novel approach for estimation of the sample size when establishing RIs using the transformed parametric and non-parametric methods.

methodsA total of 3,697 healthy participants were enrolled in this study. We adopted a two-layer nested loop sample size estimation method to determine the effects of sample size on RI, using thyroid-related hormone as an example. The sample size was selected as the calculation result when the width of the confidence interval (CI) of the upper and lower limit of the RI were both stably < 0.2 times the width of RI. Then, we calculated the sample size for establishing RIs via transformed parametric and non-parametric methods for thyroid-related hormones.

resultsSample sizes for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), as required by parametric and non-parametric methods to establish RIs were 239 and 850, respectively. Sample sizes required by the transformed parametric method for free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), total triiodothyronine (TT3) and total thyroxine (TT4) were all less than 120, while those required by the non-parametric method were more than 120.

conclusionWe describe a novel approach for estimating sample sizes for establishment of RI. A corresponding open-source code has been developed and is available for applications. The established method is suitable for most analytes, with evidence based on thyroid-related hormones indicating that different sample sizes are required to establish RIs using different methods for analytes with different variations.

Indexed as

ThyroxineTriiodothyronineData MiningHumansReference ValuesSample SizeThyrotropinThyrotropinThyroxineTriiodothyronineData miningReference intervalSample size

Identifiers

PMID36266618
PMCPMC9585851

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.