2 Serum BAP measurements for the six laboratories. Measurements of BAP by the Metra assay, used by Specialty Labs,

are in units per liter, while measurements by the Selleck LCZ696 Ostase assay, https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mk-5108-vx-689.html used by the other five laboratories, are in micrograms per liter. Send-out rounds were of identical specimens and were 6 to 7 weeks apart Within-run reproducibility was evaluated as each lab was sent five identical specimens on one date. For urine NTX (Table 3), CVs ranged from 1.5% (CI 0.9–4.3) for ARUP to 17.2% (CI 10.2–52.9) for Specialty. A comparison of assays revealed a statistically significant difference, with within-run CVs 12.7% (CI 8.7–23.5) for the Osteomark assay and 3.5% (CI 2.6–5.1) for the Vitros ECi assay (p < 0.0005 for comparison between assays). Table 3 Within-run reproducibility of urine NTX Lab Assay Reference rangea

Mean ± SD CV, % (95% CI) ARUP Vitros ECi 26–124 36.4 ± 0.5 1.5 (0.9–4.3) Esoterix Vitros ECi 25–110 selleck screening library 34.0 ± 1.4 4.2 (2.5–12.0) LabCorp Osteomark 19–63 59.0 ± 4.2 7.1 (4.2–20.6) Mayo Vitros ECi 4–64 40.0 ± 1.6 4.0 (2.4–11.4) Quest Vitros ECi 5–65 34.0 ± 1.2 3.6 (2.2–10.4) Specialty Osteomark 14–74 52.8 ± 9.1 17.2 (10.2–52.9) Vitros ECi (all)   36.1 ± 1.3 3.5 (2.6–5.1) Osteomark (all)   55.9 ± 7.1 12.7 (8.7–23.5) Units for reference ranges, means and SDs: nM BCE/mM Cr aReference ranges, provided by each laboratory, are for postmenopausal women for ARUP and Esoterix, premenopausal women for Quest and Mayo, and not specified for LabCorp and Specialty For BAP (Table 4), Esoterix produced five identical measurements, and within-run CVs for the other labs ranged from 2.2% (CI 1.3–6.3) for Quest to 15.5% (CI 9.2–47.1) for LabCorp. Analyses using perturbed data, done because some labs’ results were in whole numbers Sitaxentan and some to one tenth of a microgram per liter or unit per liter, gave similar results. For example, the longitudinal CV for Quest, which reported its results to a tenth of a microgram per liter, became 3.8% (CI 2.3–11.0) when the values were rounded to whole numbers before computations were performed, and the CV for LabCorp,

which also reported its results to a tenth of a microgram per liter, became 15.1% (CI 9.0–45.5). The CV for Mayo, which reported its results as whole numbers, was 8.3% (CI 5.0–24.2) using the values reported and became 9.3% (CI 5.3–27.3) when the values were perturbed by random variables before computations were performed. Of the five identical serum specimens sent on one date to LabCorp, one was not processed, with the reason cited “quantity not sufficient.” Table 4 Within-run reproducibility of serum BAP Lab Assay Reference rangea Mean ± SD CV, % (95% CI) ARUP Ostase 7.0–22.4 15.6 ± 0.6 3.8 (2.3–11.1) Esoterix Ostase ≤22.4 14.0 ± 0.0 0 (0–0) LabCorpb Ostase 0.0–21.3 11.3 ± 1.8 15.5 (9.2–47.1) Mayo Ostase ≤22 13.2 ± 1.1 8.3 (5.0–24.