Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate, Serum
(DHEA-Sulfate)

Sample type

Serum (preferred) or plasma(lithium heparin)

Uses

Work up women with infertility, amenorrhea, or hirsutism to identify the source of excessive androgen; aid in the evaluation of androgen excess (hirsutism and/or virilization), including Stein-Leventhal syndrome and adrenocortical diseases, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal tumor. DHEA-S is not increased with hypopituitarism. It is low in Addison disease.

Precautions

This test may exhibit interference when sample is collected from a person who is consuming a supplement with a high dose of biotin (also termed as vitamin B7 or B8, vitamin H, or coenzyme R). It is recommended to ask all patients who may be indicated for this test about biotin supplementation. Patients should be cautioned to stop biotin consumption at least 72 hours prior to the collection of a sample.

Interfering factors

Citrate plasma specimen; improper labeling

Pre-analytical errors

1-The patient is taking biotin supplements

If the sample was not collected with the correct instructions.

The corrective action

1. Do not collect the sample and ask the patient to stop taking biotin supplements for 8 hours.

2. The sample must be rejected and the patient taught the correct method for collecting the sample, and another sample should be requested.

Post-analytical errors

Write an other patient`s name in the report

If the patient’s gender is written wrong in the report, the reference range was written incorrectly

The corrective action

If the report is not delivered to the patient and this error is discovered, the correct name must be written, but if the report is delivered to the patient, you must communicate with him, apologise to him, and tell him that an error has occurred and replace it with the correct report

If the report is not delivered to the patient and this error is discovered, fix it, but if the report is delivered to the patient, apologise to him, tell him that an error has occurred, and replace it with the correct report. And next time, Be careful when you write down the gender and reference range.

Reference range

Age

0 to 30 d

Male (μg/dL) Not established

Female (μg/dL) Not established

1 to 12 m

Male (μg/dL) 4.8−64.1

Female (μg/dL) 4.8−64.1

1 to 4 y

Male (μg/dL) 0.1−56.4

Female (μg/dL) 1.8−97.2

5 to 8 y

Male (μg/dL) 18.0−194.0

Female (μg/dL) 26.1−141.9

9 to 11 y

Male (μg/dL) 49.5−270.5

Female (μg/dL) 35.0−192.6

12 to 14 y

Male (μg/dL) 49.5−270.5

Female (μg/dL) 67.8−328.6

15 to 19 y

Male (μg/dL) 115.3−459.6

Female (μg/dL) 110.0−433.2

20 to 24 y

Male (μg/dL) 164.3−530.5

Female (μg/dL) 110.0−431.7

25 to 34 y

Male (μg/dL) 138.5−475.2

Female (μg/dL) 84.8−378.0

35 to 44 y

Male (μg/dL) 102.6−416.3

Female (μg/dL) 57.3−279.2

45 to 54 y

Male (μg/dL) 71.6−375.4

Female (μg/dL) 41.2−243.7

55 to 64 y

Male (μg/dL) 48.9−344.2

Female (μg/dL) 29.4−220.5

65 to 74 y

Male (μg/dL) 30.9−295.6

Female (μg/dL) 20.4−186.6

≥75 y

Male (μg/dL) 20.8−226.4

Female (μg/dL) 13.9−142.8