title: Reference intervals of urinary steroid metabolites using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in Chinese adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Urinary steroid profiling by GC or GC-MS are established clinical tools to complement other biochemical tests in the diagnosis and investigation of a wide range of adrenocortical disorders, but normative data on adults using the more specific GC-MS are lacking. Our objective was to set up the reference intervals of commonly detected urinary steroid metabolites as well as marker metabolites seen in disease states.
  
  
  METHODS
  Apparently healthy adult Chinese males and females were recruited by completing health questionnaires. A 24-h urine specimen was collected from all the participants for urinary steroid profiling by GC-MS in cyclic scan mode. The analyzer was calibrated by using authentic steroid standards. Statistical methods recommended by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards were followed for setting up the reference intervals of various steroid metabolites. After outliers were excluded, the data were tested for the necessity to partition into sex-, menopausal status- and age-specific reference intervals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  83 males and 89 females were recruited for the study. Necessity to partition into sex-specific reference intervals was demonstrated for almost all steroid metabolites. Menopausal status and age also had a significant impact on steroid metabolite excretion, making separate reference intervals necessary.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have set up the normative data on the levels of urinary steroid metabolite excretion in Chinese adults for future reference in patient management and research in steroid metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Pathology Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. chanok@ha.org.hk
authors.forename: Angel O K
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Norman F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Tiu
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Shek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013256:Steroids / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D013256:Steroids