title: The distribution of cardiac troponin I in a population of healthy children: lessons for adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the distribution of hs-cTnI in a large cohort of healthy children.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of the LOOK study, blood was collected from a large cohort of healthy children on 3 separate occasions when the children were aged 8, 10 and 12years. Samples were stored at -80°C after collection and assayed after 1 freeze-thaw cycle using a pre-commercial release hs-cTnI assay from Abbott Diagnostics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 98% of the 12year-old children had cTnI above the LoD of 1.0ng/L. For the 212 boys the central 95% of results was distributed in a Gaussian fashion. For the 237 girls, the initial analysis was non-Gaussian, but after the elimination of 2 results, the pattern for girls was also Gaussian.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In healthy children, cTnI is present in a Gaussian distribution. Even minor illnesses can cause some troponin release, distorting this Gaussian distribution.
authors.affiliation: University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Gus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koerbin
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Walter P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Abhayaratna
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Telford
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Hickman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D016011:Normal Distribution; D012016:Reference Values; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D019210:Troponin I