Dyslipidemia: clinical approaches, evaluation of methods and strategies for standardization

Disorders in lipid metabolism (dyslipidemia) can result to the chronic heart disease. The low density lipoprotein (LDL) is a critical subfraction of total cholesterol present in serum because it is directly linked to coronary heart disease (CHD). The growing awareness of the risks of CHD stipulates the need for more accurate and precise measurement of LDL cholesterol. Current approaches in diagnosing and monitoring CHD is largely dependent on calculated LDL (CLDL) value due to the inherent complexity of ultracentrifugation method. While friedwald's calculated formula may provide comparable values with ultracentrifugation method, it may provide a result which is different. This difference may be of clinical significance. The lipoprotein electrophoresis may be useful in measuring LDL cholesterol, in the diagnosis of type III hyperlipidemia (broad beta band) and when the triglyceride level exceeds 400 mg/dl. The result that compares the CLDL with that obtained by the electrophoresis showed a significant difference (P > or = 0.000) for LDL and insignificant difference (P = 0.068) for high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.