IN THIS ISSUE OF Pediatrics two papers bearing on the reliability, or, perhaps more accurately, unreliability of bilirubin determinations in serum are published. The point which both emphasize is that, although the error of the determination in an individual hospital laboratory may be small enough to mislead one into the belief that it is reasonably accurate, the comparability of determinations from different laboratories is distressingly poor. Both papers trace this poor comparability of results to differences in the bilirubin standards used. The sources of error in the standards may arise because of differences in the material used for the primary standard, or because of deterioration or other changes in the primary standard during its storage or preparation for use.
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