Assessing risk using different cholesterol-screening methods

The purpose of this study was to compare total capillary, total venous, risk ratio, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein measures of cholesterol to determine whether total capillary cholesterol is a valid measure to use in cholesterol screening. An announcement and a registration form were distributed with employee paychecks announcing a cholesterol-screening programme. Capillary and venous samples were collected from screening participants (n=285). Results indicated false negatives in total capillary cholesterol in 17.21–34.4% of cases compared with other methods of cholesterol measurement. Due to the high number of misclassifications, health educators should not use total capillary cholesterol as a predictor of risk for heart disease, nor as a measure for referral during cholesterol screenings.