Serum Lipid Profile: Fasting or Non-fasting?
Serum lipid profile has now become almost a routine test. It is usually done in fasting state due to certain limitations in non-fasting serum sample. In the recent past efforts have been made to simplify blood sampling by replacing fasting lipid profile with non-fasting lipid profile. However, fasting specimen is preferred if cardiovascular risk assessment is based on total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol or non-HDL cholesterol. A lot has yet to be done in this area. Till then we have to believe in fasting lipid profile for assessment and management of cardiovascular disease.
Department of Cardiology, CSM Medical University, U.P., Lucknow, 226003 India.
P K
PK
Nigam