In a Reference Sample of Hundreds of Healthy Subjects, the Laboratory

question 60

Multiple Choice

In a reference sample of hundreds of healthy subjects, the laboratory reference range for a novel marker of cardiac injury is 0.04-0.08 U/mL at the standard 95% level of probability.  The marker has very high sensitivity and specificity for myocardial tissue.  The clinical cardiology team would like to use a 99.7% reference range to assess patients who come to the emergency department with chest pain and have a high pretest probability of cardiac ischemia.  An elevated value of the marker is defined as exceeding the 99.7th percentile of the reference sample.  Assuming a normal (Gaussian) distribution with a mean of 0.06 U/mL, which of the following most closely approximates the corresponding reference range?

• A)0.03 to 0.09
• B)0.035 to 0.085
• C)0.045 to 0.075
• D)0.05 to 0.07
• E)0.055 to 0.065

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