Reference individuals, blood collection, treatment of samples and descriptive data from the questionnaire in the Nordic Reference Interval Project 2000

The rules for recruitment of reference individuals, inclusion and preparation of individuals, blood collection, treatment of samples ( and control materials) and analysis at the 102 medical laboratories attending the Nordic Reference Interval Project (NORIP) are given as well as the rules for central exclusion of reference individuals. The individuals (18-91-year-olds) should be evenly distributed on age and gender groups. The 3002 reference individuals who contributed at least one reference value to the finally suggested reference intervals were characterized using the information in the questionnaire. Gender, age and country are the main entries in the tables. Other variables in the cross-tables or figure are height, weight, body mass index, ethnic origin, heredity for diabetes, chronic disease, oestrogens or oral contraceptives, other medication, hard physical activity, previous blood donations, smoking habits, use of alcohol, hours since last meal and time of blood collection (hour, day of week, month, year). The Danes had the highest alcohol consumption and the Icelanders had the highest body mass index. The information in this article may interest potential users of the Nordic Reference Interval Project bio-bank and database (NOBIDA) in which serum, Li-heparin plasma and EDTA buffy coat from the mentioned individuals are stored below -80degreesC.