AccScience Publishing / GTM / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/GTM025440084
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Establishing reference intervals of serum albumin levels in the apparently healthy Caribbean population by gender, age, ethnicity, and body mass index

Saleh Idris*
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1 Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
Global Translational Medicine, 025440084 https://doi.org/10.36922/GTM025440084
Received: 1 November 2025 | Revised: 11 December 2025 | Accepted: 2 February 2026 | Published online: 12 June 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Serum albumin (SA) is often used in research and clinical settings as a biomarker of nutritional status. This report documents SA reference intervals (RIs) in an apparently healthy Caribbean population by age, gender, ethnicity, and body mass index (BMI). The study included 105 subjects (41 males, 64 females) aged 17–83 years residing in Trinidad and Tobago. Fasting blood samples were collected, and SA concentrations were measured using a multi-channel chemistry auto-analyzer. The 95% RIs for SA, stratified by age, gender, ethnicity, and BMI, were then established. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used for statistical analysis. The results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. RIs were established for the two gender groups as 35.95–43.91 and 34.87–41.73 for males and females, respectively. Because the mean SA levels differed significantly (p < 0.05) across age subgroups, age-related RIs were also established for each subgroup. However, no significant difference in mean SA levels was observed across ethnic groups (p = 0.413), which warrants establishing a unified RI of 35.21–42.65. RIs established for gender, age, ethnicity, and BMI categories have provided a platform for establishing RIs for other biochemical parameters routinely used in the population of Trinidad and Tobago.

Keywords
Biomarker
Body mass index
Caribbean
Gender
Nutrition
Protein
Serum albumin
Reference intervals
Funding
The study was supported by a research grant from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.
Conflict of interest
The author declared no conflicting interests.
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Global Translational Medicine, Electronic ISSN: 2811-0021 Print ISSN: 3060-8600, Published by AccScience Publishing
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