The Central Role of Laboratory Medicine in Public Health: From Cardiac Biomarkers to Pandemic Response
Laboratory data supports an estimated 60-70% of clinical decisions, yet the field lacks visibility despite its indisputable impact on patient care. This review highlights four exemplary areas: high-sensitivity troponin and NT-proBNP for cardiovascular diagnosis and prognosis, procalcitonin for sepsis management and antibiotic stewardship, traumatic brain injury markers, and the critical role of laboratory medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IFCC Task Force on Outcome Studies aims to build the evidence base documenting laboratory medicine's contribution to clinical outcomes.
The original study
Central role of laboratory medicine in public health and patient care.
- Authors
- Olver P, Bohn MK, Adeli K
- Journal
- Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine
- Type
- Review, Journal Article
- PMID
- 36436024
Original abstract
Clinical laboratories play a vital role in the healthcare system. Objective medical data provided by clinical laboratories supports approximately 60-70% of clinical decisions, however, evidence supporting this claim is poorly documented and laboratories still lack visibility, despite their indisputable impact on patient care and public health. The International Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) Task Force on Outcome Studies in Laboratory Medicine (TF-OSLM) was recently developed to support directed research evaluating the role of laboratory medicine on clinical outcomes. Establishing and documenting this evidence is key to enhance visibility of the field in the eye of the public and other healthcare professionals together with optimizing patient outcomes and health care system operations. In this review, we discuss four areas that exemplify the contribution of laboratory medicine directly to patient care. This includes high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide/B-type natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP/BNP) for the diagnosis and prognosis of myocardial infarction and heart failure, respectively, and procalcitonin for the management of sepsis and antibiotic stewardship. Emerging markers of traumatic brain injury and the role of laboratory medicine in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed along with an introduction to plans of IFCC TF-OSLM.