Reference Range

New reference range effective 7/1/2024

Females:
     Normal menstruating females 

Follicular phase     <0.1 - 0.3 ng/mL

Luteal phase          1.2 - 15.09 ng/mL

Postmenopausal              < 0.1 - 0.2 ng/mL

Pregnant females

First Trimester         2.8 - 147.3 ng/mL

Second Trimester   22.5 - 95.3 ng/mL

Third Trimester       27.9 - 242.5 ng/mL

Males:                                <0.1 - 0.2  ngmL

Reference ranges for children not established in the laboratory.  

Limitations:
Heterophilic antibodies in human serum can react with reagent immunoglobulins, interfering with in vitro immunoassays.  Patients routinely exposed to animals or animal serum products can be prone to this interference and anomolous values may be observed.    The supplement dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may cause falsely elevated progesterone results in immunoassays. At an initial concentration of progesterone of 0.70 ng/mL (2.23 nmol/L), a 211% change in concentration was observed at the supraphysiologic level of DHEAS (DHEA metabolite) of 20,000 ng/mL. For patients being treated with DHEA, an alternate method that is not expected to show cross-reactivity to DHEAS (DHEA metabolite), such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), should be used.  With the advent of new steroid-based medications (analogues) with similar chemical structure to progesterone, there is a possibility of cross-reactivity and falsely elevated results. For diagnostic purposes, the results should always be assessed in conjunction with the patient’s medical history, clinical examination and other findings. If the progesterone results are inconsistent with clinical evidence, additional testing is suggested to confirm the result.   Steroid based medications may cross-react and falsely elevate results.