Background: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death worldwide, and the detection of LDL-C contributes to reducing risks. However, the LDL-C is rarely evaluated according to the gold standard method because it is costly and time-consuming. This study aimed to determine the agreement of LDL-C among three equations, namely Friedewald's equation, Puavilai's equation, and Dansethakul's equation.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study.
Results: Using the data of lipid measurement from a specific group of people in the remote rural area, we found that the Thai equations have more superior agreement with direct measurement than the Friedewald equation (ICC = 0.870, 95% CI = 0.857-0.882) when the agreement of continuous data was used for total analysis. Although the categorical analysis that gave better agreement was from Friedewald equation (K index = 0.730, 95% CI = 0.720-0.751), the findings from this study confirmed the population-specific use of Pauvilai's equation and Dansethakul's equation for determining the LDL-C.
Conclusion: Pauvilai's equation showed better agreement with direct measurement for LDL-C. Thus, it could be considered as an alternative for the direct method, particularly in laboratories in rural areas in Thailand.
Keywords: LDL-C equation; agreement; cardiovascular disease; northeastern Thailand; rural area.
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.