Fig. 1. Correlation between the H index and Hb concentration (A). Interference with the measurement of LD caused by increased hemolysis in a sample (B). The solid line represents the original concentration of LD, and the dotted lines denote a 10% difference from the original level. The H index value of 25 was expected to cause a 10% bias in the measurement. The distribution of H index values among all the requested routine chemistry samples in a given month (C). The proportion of samples with an H index >25 was 25.2%.

Abbreviations: H index, hemolysis index; LD, lactate dehydrogenase.