title: Reference Intervals of Fibrosis Index Based on Four Indicators in Healthy Elderly Chinese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The establishment of reference intervals of total bilirubin, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferases (AST), and creatinine provided necessary reference in screening and diagnosis of various kidney and liver diseases. However, these reference intervals were not available to estimate liver fibrosis degree. The purpose of this study is to establish the reference intervals of fibrosis index based on the four indicators (FIB-4) in apparently healthy elderly Chinese.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 24,949 blood specimens were collected by the standard procedures, and ALT, AST, and PLT were determined. FIB-4 were calculated by the following formula: FIB-4 = (age [years] × AST [U/l])/((PLT [10(9) /l]) × (ALT [U/l])(1/2) ).The elderly's FIB-4 were analyzed between the same age of different sexes and different ages of the same sex. Statistical data were analyzed by SPSS18.0 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reference intervals of FIB-4 index, established for the healthy elderly, were 0.9923-4.5424 for males and 0.9007-4.1934 for females.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We established reference intervals of FIB-4 index. This research provided reference value that can be used by relevant clinicians and inspection officers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory, Shuyang People's Hospital, Shuyang, China. zly52120@163.com.
authors.forename: Guo-Ming
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of the Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D044466:Asian People; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010976:Platelet Count; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase
keywords: FIB-4 index; liver fibrosis; reference intervals