Cortisol, Serum

Sample type:

Serum .

Collection Instructions:

Morning (8 a.m.) and afternoon (4 p.m.) specimens are preferred.

Serum gel tubes should be centrifuged within 2 hours of collection.

Red-top tubes should be centrifuged and the serum aliquoted into a plastic vial within 2 hours of collection.

Uses:

Serum cortisol measurements are primarily used to diagnose states of cortisol excess (hypercortisolism) or deficiency (hypocortisolism).

Precautions:

Avoid strenuous physical activity the day before a cortisol test.

Take the sample at 8 in the morning.

You don’t need to fast for a cortisol test.

Interfering factors:

Exercise, Physical or emotional stress can increase your cortisol serum.

Preanalytical errors:

Wrong specimen collection.

practices hard exercise before the test:

Corrective action:

use a serum gel tube to collect the sample.

avoid practicing exercise before the test.

Post analytical errors:

delay the result.

Corrective action :

Give the result in given the time.

Reference range:

Normal values for a blood sample taken at 8 in the morning are 5 to 25 mcg/dL or 140 to 690 nmol/L.