ASVCP reference interval guidelines include which topic?

• A. Calculation of sample sizes for studies
• B. Development of therapeutic protocols
• C. Determination of de novo reference intervals in veterinary species
• D. Imaging guidelines for small animals

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is how to establish reference intervals for veterinary laboratory values. The ASVCP guidelines are about deriving and validating those reference intervals, including how to collect data from healthy animals, decide what to partition (by age, sex, species, or method), and apply appropriate statistical methods to set upper and lower limits. When the topic is described as determining de novo reference intervals in veterinary species, it means creating new reference intervals from scratch for a specific species or assay rather than relying on existing intervals or data from other species. This is the kind of guidance the guidelines provide—how to design studies, handle data, and verify that the new intervals are appropriate for clinical use. Other topics such as therapeutic protocol development or imaging guidelines are outside the scope of these reference interval guidelines, and while study design considerations like sample size can matter, the primary focus is on establishing and validating de novo reference intervals.