Why Different Reference Ranges?

[chocolatelover]

I got my kids' blood tests back today and they are all negative, which is great and terrible. Great because they most likely don't have celiac, but terrible because now we have figure out what in the world is causing my daughter's diarrhea (sounds just like me).

My question is why there are different reference ranges for each of them for the serum IGA. They all went to the same lab, yet the reference range is different on all three? One range is 64-246, one is 70-432, and one is 41-368. Why are they all different if they are being tested for the same thing at the same lab???

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Blood tests can come out wrong. If your daughter does well on a gluten-free diet then you know to keep her on it. A lot of people have luck with elimination diets and allergen testing. Good luck, ChocolateLover.

[blueeyedmanda]

Some lab results vary between sex, and age.

[jayhawkmom]

The reference range for total serum IgA is based on age... different ages, different stages of life, different IgA ranges.

[happygirl]

chocolate lover: she could still be gluten intolerant, just not Celiac. Same culprit...gluten.

[chocolatelover]

I'm thinking that she and I will be Gluten-free Casein-free together and see what happens. It's so hard to see them going through this kind of stuff, especially at such a young age. BTW, they are 13, 10 and 7. I wouldn't think they would have different ranges since they are so close in age, but who knows why they do what they do. I guess I'm just a little skeptical because this is the same lab that I think screwed up my tests.