Procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP) is one of the most clinically useful bone formation biomarkers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to independently evaluate the performance of automated total PINP assay and established age- and gender-specific reference intervals for PINP in healthy Korean population.

The imprecision, linearity, and detection capability of Elecsys total PINP assay was determined and reference interval was established using 599 serums from Korean population with normal bone mineral densities based on bone densitometry. Age groups were divided into 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and over.

Elecsys total PINP had excellent performance in imprecision, linearity, and detection capability. When partitioning age groups in Korean male and female populations, there was significant difference in total PINP between different age groups. In male populations, PINP level was decreased with increasing age, then it remained steady after middle-age. In female populations, there was a decreasing tendency similar to that in the male population with a sharp increase in the 50 to 59 age group.

Elecsys total PINP assay showed precise and reliable performance in our study. We established age-related PINP reference intervals for Korean male and female population with normal bone mineral densities.