Lipid profile

Lipid profile or lipid panel is a panel of blood teststhat serves as an initial broad medical screening toolfor abnormalities in lipids, such as cholesterol andtriglycerides. The results of this test can identify certaingenetic diseases and can determine approximate risks forcardiovascular disease, certain forms of pancreatitis, andother diseases.Lipid panels are commonly ordered as part of a physicalexam, along with other panels such as the complete bloodcount (CBC) and basic metabolic panel (BMP).

1 Components

The lipid profile typically includes:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)

• High-density lipoprotein (HDL)

• Triglycerides

• Total cholesterol

Using these values, a laboratory may also calculate:

• Very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)

• Cholesterol:HDL ratio

2 Procedure and indication

Current recommendations for cholesterol testing comefrom the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III guidelines,and are based on many large clinical studies, such as theFramingham Heart Study.For healthy adults with no cardiovascular risk factors, theATP III guidelines recommend screening once every fiveyears.[1] A lipid profile may also be ordered at regularintervals to evaluate the success of lipid-lowering drugssuch as statins.In the pediatric and adolescent population, lipid test-ing is not routinely performed. However, the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics and NHLBI now recommend thatchildren aged 9–11 be screened once for severe choles-terol abnormalities.[2] This screening can be valuableto detect genetic diseases such as familial hypercholes-terolemia that can be lethal if not treated early.

Traditionally, most laboratories have required patients tofast for 9–12 hours before screening. However, recentstudies have questioned the utility of fasting before lipidpanels, and some diagnostic labs now routinely acceptnon-fasting samples.[3]

VLDL may be calculated using the Friedewald’sequation:[4]

• VLDL = Triglycerides/5

• VLDL = Total cholesterol – (HDL + LDL)

3 Implications

See also: LDL and HDL

This test is used to identify hyperlipidemia (vari-ous disturbances of cholesterol and triglyceride levels),many forms of which are recognized risk factors forcardiovascular disease and rarely pancreatitis.A total cholesterol reading can be used to assess an indi-vidual’s risk for heart disease, however, it should not berelied upon as the only indicator. The individual com-ponents that make up total cholesterol reading—LDL,HDL, and VLDL—are also important in measuring risk.For instance, someone’s total cholesterol may be high, butthis may be due to very high HDL (“good cholesterol”)cholesterol levels,—which can actually help prevent heartdisease (the test is mainly concerned with high LDL, or“bad cholesterol” levels). So, while a high total choles-terol level may help give an indication that there is a prob-lem with cholesterol levels, the components that make uptotal cholesterol should also be measured.

4 References

[1] National Cholesterol Education Program (Ncep) ExpertPanel On Detection, E. (2002). “Third Report of theNational Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) ExpertPanel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of HighBlood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III)final report”. Circulation 106 (25): 3143–3421. PMID12485966.

[2] “Pediatric Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Guidelines -NHLBI, NIH”.

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2 5 EXTERNAL LINKS

[3] Sidhu, D.; Naugler, C. (2012). “Fasting Timeand Lipid Levels in a Community-Based Popula-tion<subtitle>A Cross-sectional Study</subtitle><alt-title>Fasting Time and Lipid Levels</alt-title>".Archives of Internal Medicine 172 (22): 1–4.doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3708. PMID23147400.

[4] Friedewald WT, Levy RI, Fredrickson DS. Estimation ofthe concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterolin plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge.Clin Chem. 1972;18:499-502. (Cited in: Clin. Chem.1990; 36:15-19).

5 External links• Lipid Profile: At a glance at Labtestsonline.org

• Total Cholesterol -What Are Total Cholesterol Lev-els? at About.com

• Friedewald’s equation for calculating VLDL andLDL at Cardiophile.org

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6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text• Lipid profile Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid%20profile?oldid=637181122 Contributors: Julesd, Jfdwolff, Semenko, Gaius

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