Background: High-density lipoproteins (HDL) form a heterogeneous class of lipoproteins. HDL is routinely measured in clinical laboratories as a negative risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) because of its potent antiatherogenic properties. The main parameter used at present to measure HDL is its cholesterol content (HDL-C).
Objective: To describe new methods for measuring HDL that may be superior to HDL-C in predicting CHD risk.
Methods: Recent publications on the measurement of HDL were reviewed.
Results/conclusion: Recent experimental and epidemiologic studies indicate that the CHD predictive ability of HDL can potentially be improved by the measurement of the other contents or properties of HDL besides HDL-C. In this review, the traditional and current tests to measure HDL are discussed. New methods for the subfractionation of HDL and new compositional and functional tests for HDL that show promise in improving CHD risk prediction are also be discussed.