The lipaemic index: clinical observations

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe lipaemic index can be used to assess whether or not blood samples are suitable for laboratory analysis. However, little is known about which patients have a raised lipaemic index. In this article we study patient demographics and serum lipid concentrations in samples showing a raised lipaemic index. Of the 4271 patient samples measured in the month of July 2014, a total of 310 had a lipaemic index ≥0.4. Blood samples showing a raised lipaemic index were studied in a retrospective patient case review of laboratory results. Overall, 7.3% of all samples measured had a raised lipaemic index ≥0.4. This study found that males were more likely to have a high lipaemic index (56%) and neonates were the group most frequently producing lipaemic samples (30.6%). The correlation between the lipaemic index and the triglyceride concentration showed an r2 value of only 0.37 (r=0.61), and the correlation between cholesterol and lipaemic index showed an r2 value of 0.16 (r=-0.41). Male and neonatal samples were most likely to show a raised lipaemic index. There was a positive correlation between sample triglyceride and lipaemic index and an inverse correlation with cholesterol concentration and the lipaemic index, although this did not account for all the variance. Thus, other factors may also be important in the expression of the lipaemic index.