Comparison of reference systems in the assessment of age-related serum immunoglobulin levels in pediatric patients

Abstract

Background/aim: Ig level assessment is frequently used in the diagnosis and follow-up of immunodeficiency, as well as in studiesinvestigating the prevalence of low serum Ig level in specific diseases.Material and methods: Patients who underwent Ig testing in the inpatient and outpatient clinics of our hospital in the years 2010–2016were included. The Ig levels of the patients were assessed separately according to two reference systems commonly used in Turkey andanother reference system used in the USA.Results: A total of 20,138 patients (57.6% male) were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 55.7 months (interquartilerange: 23.1–96.7). According to the reference intervals determined by Tezcan et al., 30.6% of the patients were deficient in one or more Igvalues. This rate was 4 times higher than those based on the reference intervals determined by Aksu et al. (7.7%) and those in the NelsonTextbook of Pediatrics (6.8%). We also determined that the frequency of low Ig levels with three reference systems.Conclusion: In this study, we found that the rates of low Ig level in a group of pediatric patients differed significantly when evaluatedusing three different reference systems for age-related serum Ig levels