Your doctor says everything looks fine, but you still feel terrible. The problem might not be your health but how labs define “normal.” Understanding the difference between normal and optimal could ...

Laboratory reference ranges reflect methods, populations, and policies, and experienced clinicians interpret them in context rather than applying fixed cutoffs theoretically.

Run-of-the mill? Middle of the road? Typical? The chance that you are correct is vanishingly small. If you're a clinician, like me, you get a LOT of medical questions. While we've all been asked to ...

Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells. It carries oxygen around your body, delivering it to tissues. Hemoglobin also carries carbon dioxide to the lungs so you can breathe it out. Iron is a part ...

Steffini Stalos, DO, FCAP, is a pathology and lab medicine physician. She is also the chief medical officer of the lab consultancy firm Blood Associates, LLC. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration ...

You probably already know you need calcium for strong bones and teeth. But did you know that you need normal levels of this important mineral for healthy blood vessels, muscles, and nerves, too? If ...

Labs calculate normal by testing everyone who walks through the door, including patients with undiagnosed conditions and chronic diseases. The middle 95 percent becomes the reference range, whether ...