DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2022.v10i05.008

Pages: 723-731

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death all over the world. Various tests included in the lipid profile testing panel are used to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease, for monitoring treatment and for setting treatment goals. This review article revisits the various parameters in the lipid profile, the current clinical recommendations, and the recent guideline changes of testing requirements from a fasting to a non-fasting sample. The impact on various parameters when a non-fasting lipid testing is performed along with the criteria that should be used while using the new recommendations of non-fasting lipid testing are discussed. The article also reviews the different equations used for the calculation of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and its clinical applications in the current clinical guideline settings. It also briefly describes the increasing clinical importance of parameters like non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein-B and remnant cholesterol. Recent literature reviews conclude that risk prediction is similar and, in many cases, better with non-fasting lipid profile testing compared to a fasting state test. Hence it is recommended to use non fasting lipid profile testing for better risk prediction, patient and laboratory convenience, keeping in mind the cut off and flagging criteria for a repeat fasting test.