Performance characteristics of five automated serum cortisol immunoassays
Abstract
Background Serum cortisol measurements are used to help diagnose conditions of cortisol deficiency and excess. Automated, nonisotopic immunoassays are used in most clinical laboratories.Methods Linearity, imprecision, and method comparison studies for serum cortisol assays were performed with the Access, Advia Centaur, AxSYM, Elecsys 2010, and IMMULITE 2000 analyzers.Results All methods demonstrated acceptable linearity with the AxSYM method showing the least deviation from target values. The Elecsys 2010 method was the most precise for all three levels of quality control material. Method comparison studies demonstrated good concordance among methods except for two patient samples that gave results on the Elecsys 2010 that were significantly higher than the other methods. Differences in assay calibration were observed.Conclusions Overall, all methods performed well. Additional calibration standardization efforts are required to truly harmonize the results from each assay. The Elecsys 2010 method is less specific than other automated methods based on two discordant patient results.
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The serum cortisol cut-offs after DST do not account for possible variability between analytical methods, which may affect reported values.
“These cut-offs disregard possible variability between analytical methods, which may affect reported values [39,40].”
From Salivary cortisol and cortisone in diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome: a comparison of six different analytical methods (2023) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Authors
- Roberts, R. F., & Roberts, W. L.
- Affiliations
- ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- Corresponding author
- Roberts, Richard F
- Venue
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 489-493
- ISSN
- 0009-9120 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2032213551
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 1.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Biochemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- serum cortisol, automated immunoassay, assay performance, method comparison, assay linearity, imprecision, assay calibration, Immulite 2000, ADVIA Centaur, AxSYM, assay harmonization, assay specificity
- MeSH terms
- Autoanalysis, Calibration, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Immunoassay, Reproducibility of Results, Clinical Laboratory Techniques
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