Understand your own laboratory values

Guide of Stiftung Warentest helps to decode your own laboratory values

02/24/2014

Medical diagnoses and in particular determined laboratory values ​​are often not understandable to laymen. However, the practicing physicians usually lack the time for a detailed explanation of the terms, abbreviations and numbers. The Stiftung Warentest therefore has the guidebook „My lab values“ issued to help those affected to decrypt the information and properly classify.

Deciphering medical findings is almost impossible for medical laypersons. Typical questions that arise here are, according to the Stiftung Warentest, for example: „What do abbreviations like EOS, FSH or MCH and the numbers in parentheses mean? What are reference ranges and what does the personal laboratory value say??“ Those affected need help to properly read and understand the lab reports, but time is lacking for extensive explanations in everyday practice.

Blood tests are an important diagnostic tool for many diseases. For example, various pathogens can be detected directly in the blood, high blood sugar or low blood sugar can be detected and signs of possible inflammatory processes can be detected. „The result of a blood test is a lab report“, whose structure is always similar in its basic features, reports Stiftung Warentest. With a little knowledge, patients could find their way around quickly. Here, the new guide offers a good basis for understanding the laboratory report. Interested parties will be told what normal levels are, what levels are too high or too low, and what diseases can be identified by laboratory values. Also approaches for an improvement of the blood values ​​are shown here. „Clearly structured, this updated guide supports anyone who wants to understand more of their laboratory values“ and „provides a complete overview of the most important values ​​and their meaning“, so the message of the Stiftung Warentest. (Fp)

Picture: Rainer Sturm