Differences in severity at admission for heart failure between rural and urban patients: the value of adding laboratory results to administrative data

Table 1 Normal, abnormal, and severely abnormal ranges for selected laboratory tests

Blood elements	Unit	Normal range	Abnormal range	Severely abnormal range
Hemoglobin (female)	g/dl	12–15	7–11	<7
Hemoglobin (male)	g/dl	13–17	7–12	<7
Sodium	mmol/l	137–145	121–136 or 146–160	<121 or >160
Serum creatinine	mg/dl	<1.5	1.5–7.3	>7.3
B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP)	ng/ml	<430	430–1729	>1729

ISSN: 1472-6963