Assessment of HoSt Accuracy and Precision
CDC’s Clinical Standardization Programs aims to ensure that laboratory measurements for disease biomarkers used in patient care, research, and public health are accurate.
To assess the analytical accuracy of participants’ laboratory methods in HoSt, CDC follows the following process:
- CDC provides program participants with sets of serum samples from individual donors containing varying concentrations of testosterone and estradiol (assigned based on the corresponding reference method). Typical sets contain 40 samples or 120 samples. However, any number of samples up to 120 can be provided, as needed by the participant.
- Participants measure these samples and compare their results with the reference values provided. This step assesses the analytical accuracy of their laboratory methods and identifies potential problems.
- Participants work to improve their measurement accuracy based on the finding of their comparison. CDC can provide assistance with this step, if requested.
To obtain samples for assessment of accuracy, contact Standardization@cdc.gov.