title: Estimation of high density lipoprotein cholesterol in the diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy.
abstract: A high incidence of increased plasma level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) has been reported in cases of lepromatous leprosy. HDL-C levels were estimated in 96 (50 under treatment and 46 untreated) lepromatous leprosy patients and 84 randomly selected matched control patients suffering from other skin diseases attending skin out-patients department. HDL-C estimations were performed for the diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy in patients aged below 60 years, taking plasma HDL-C levels as 28-71 mg./dl. in men and 34-91 mg./dl. in women, as range of normal values. The study revealed that HDL-C levels in lepromatous leprosy group were raised and significantly different when compared with control group (t = 35.1668 and P less than 0.001). The sensitivity of the test was very high, 97.9 per cent (94/96), but specificity was low 80.95 per cent (68/84). False positive and false negative results were 19.04 per cent (16/84) and 2.08 per cent (2/96) respectively. It is opined that a negative test will be mainly useful in excluding diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy.
authors.affiliation: Deptt. of Medicine and G.R. Medical College, Gwalior.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Saraswat
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shanker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D003124:Colorimetry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015440:Leprosy, Lepromatous / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL