Uncertainty of Measurement in Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Abstract

Random and systematic errors can act together to produce an error of measurement (total error) and generate a doubt (uncertainty) about the true value of the measured quantity. The international metrological organizations, keeping in mind these facts, have developed the concept of uncertainty of measurement. This concept has become an important issue in general metrology, and by extension, its importance is increasing in clinical laboratory sciences. It is thus important to clarify the concept and to identify the practical difficulties in the use of uncertainty of patients’ results. Uncertainty of measurement (hereafter referred to as uncertainty) is a parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the measurand (i.e., the measured quantity) (1); in other words, uncertainty is numerical information that complements a result of measurement, indicating the magnitude of the doubt about this result. Uncertainty is described by means of one of the following three parameters (2):

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