Hormone measurements are particularly prone to potential interferences that can be of several origins. These interference factors can be divided in pre-analytical, methodological and post-analytical. In this review we dealt with the first two forms of interference. The pre-analytical factors include physiological variations due to diet, biological rhythms, stress, non-endocrine diseases, use of hormone replacement, etc. It can also include problems in sample collection, the type of material employed in the sample collection, the handling and shipping conditions and all the consequences they can have in the integrity of the analyte. The methodological interference factors can also be of various origins, including heterophylic antibodies, endogenous anti-hormone antibodies and other factors. All these potential interference factors have to be analyzed together in order to permit a correct interpretation of the laboratory results.
Hormone measurements; Pre-analytical interferences; Analytical interferences