Abstract
Reference intervals (RIs) have been defined as range of mean ± 1.96SD of measured values from reference (healthy) individuals. In the previous study, the RIs of latent pathologic factor scores representing the clinical status of healthy Japanese by factor analysis were established. A five-factor solution (liver function, inflammation, lipid metabolism, bone metabolism, and renal function) was extracted. Three-level nested analysis of variance was applied to quantitation of the factor scores due to “region”, “sex”, and “age”. The magnitude of variation due to the elements was expressed as SD, and the ratio of the SD and between-individual SD was calculated as SDR. SDR exceeding 0.3 was considered significant. SDRs for “region” were not significant. On the other hands, SDRs for “sex” were significant for the clinical factors except inflammation. Drink habit had a positive effect which prevents lipid metabolism disorders. The RI of latent pathologic factor scores includes comprehensive clinical information on related test results and is useful as an index for lifestyle habit improvement.
