Lipid assessment for risk of vascular disease gets easier and cheaper

This study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed the records of 302,430 people included in 68 long-term studies, with 2.79 million person-years of follow-up. The surprising finding is that measuring only total cholesterol plus HDL cholesterol OR apolipoproteins, without the need to fast, was as accurate as more elaborate and costly investigations. The authors state: "Lipid assessment in vascular disease can be simplified by measurement of either total and HDL cholesterol levels or apolipoproteins without the need to fast and without regard to triglyceride."