The frequency distributions of biochemical variables: Gaussian or log-Gaussian?
Serum sodium and total calcium concentrations were measured in 677 apparently healthy Caucasian men aged 30-39 years. The frequency distributions of these variables could be described equally satisfactorily as either Gaussian or log-Gaussian. Since other biochemical variables (for example, serum bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase) have frequency distributions which are much better described as log-Gaussian, the unifying hypothesis is proposed that all biochemical variables have basically log-Gaussian distributions, and that the apparently Gaussian distributions of certain variables (such as sodium and calcium) arise because of the relatively narrow ranges of values encountered in the healthy population.
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001699:Biometry; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012964:Sodium / Q000097:blood*
D012964:Sodium; D002118:Calcium