Table 4. Reference Interval Application.
| Beaufort (2000, 2006) | St. Joseph Bay (2005, 2006) | Georgia (2009) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample Sizes | |||
| Cortisol | 4 | 11 | 19 |
| Aldosterone | 10 | 28 | 27 |
| Cortisol | |||
| Expected Cases | 1 or fewer | 2 or fewer | 2 or fewer |
| Observed Cases | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Observed Case Prevalence | NA* | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 95% CI | NA* | (0.00–0.28) | (0.00–0.18) |
| Aldosterone | |||
| Expected Cases | 4 or fewer | 9 or fewer | 8 or fewer |
| Observed Cases | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| Observed Case Prevalence | 0.00 | 0.18 | 0.26 |
| 95% CI | (0.00–0.31) | (0.06–0.37) | (0.11–0.46) |
Number of cases, case prevalence, and sample sizes of bottlenose dolphins sampled in Beaufort, NC (2000, 2006), St. Joseph Bay, FL (2005,2006), and Sapelo/Brunswick GA (2009). “Expected Cases” is the maximum number of dolphins at a given site that would be expected to have either a cortisol concentration below the 95th percentile reference interval or an aldosterone concentration below the assay detection limit, given the sample size and assuming a prevalence of 0.025 (cortisol) or 0.16 (aldosterone). “Observed Cases” is the number of dolphins at a given site that had either a cortisol concentration below the 95th percentile reference interval or an aldosterone concentration below the assay detection limit. “Case Prevalence” was calculated as the ratio of cases to sample size for each hormone. “95% CI” is the 95% binomial confidence interval for the case prevalence. With the exception of Beaufort 2000 data (elapsed time unknown), cortisol sample sizes include animals sampled <30 minutes elapsed time.
*Prevalence not calculated due to small sample size