Abstract:

Objective Reference ranges of levels of five essential elements (copper, zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium) in serum of 300 healthy people between 17 and 30 years of age in Beijing were studied to provide useful data for the clinical diagnosis.Methods Based on the method of atomic absorption spectrometry, the authors tested the contents of the five elements in serum, and calculated the distribution differences of these five elements with sex and age. Results The distribution of the contents of these elements was Gaussian distribution. The levels of iron and calcium in serums between male and female had a significant difference（P＜0.05）, and the level of calcium in serum had a significant difference（P＜0.01）. Conclusion The content of iron in serum of male was higher than that of the female healthy adults in Beijing. On the contrary, the content of calcium of female was higher than that of the male. The content of calcium in serum decreased with aging.

Key words: essential element, microelement, major element, serum, atomic absorption spectrometry, reference range