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S. Raymond Gambino, MD
Columbia University New York

JAMA. 1970;212(5):883.

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To the Editor.—

Poor Dr. Hoffman. He continues to be maligned and misinterpreted. The article by Elveback et al (211:69, 1970) purports to show the total unacceptability of Hoffman's method of estimating maximum limits for the "normal" range. My reading of the data leads me to the opposite conclusion.

The authors make much of the difference between their normal range for serum calcium of 8.9 to 10.1 and Hoffman's estimate of 8.7 to 10.3. I cannot accept this very small difference as proof of the invalidity of Hoffman's method. The authors' normal range is based on 576 measurements on a selected population, whereas Hoffman's estimate was based on 4,719 consecutive determinations. Futhermore, the authors mislead the reader when they suggest that the difference between 10.1 and 10.3 or 8.7 and 8.9 is of practical significance. In 1970 (let alone in 1964) laboratories cannot distinguish between a calcium level of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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