{
  "id": 13461966,
  "title": "Most labs testing children for cardiac troponin lack pediatric reference ranges, survey finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/10/most-labs-testing-children-for-cardiac-troponin-lack-pediatric",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-10T16:40:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-labs-children-cardiac-troponin-lack.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A new global survey conducted by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) Committee on Emerging Technologies in Pediatric Laboratory Medicine (C-ETPLM) has found that most labs testing children for cardiac troponin lack pediatric reference ranges. Cardiac troponin, a protein released into the blood when heart muscle is damaged, can be used as a quick measure of heart injury in adults, but doctors often lack data on normal troponin measurements for children. Of the eligible respondents, 58.5% reported offering cardiac troponin testing in-house, but 65.5% of these lacked child-specific reference intervals, relying instead on manufacturer-provided adult reference intervals. The lack of consistent, validated child-specific guidelines is a major obstacle to giving children reliable heart care, as heart attacks are rare in children and troponin testing is used to evaluate a wide range of child-specific conditions. The researchers argue that troponin testing needs different benchmarks tailored to each specific condition, rather than one generic reference range applied broadly.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}