If anybody else is like me, tired of reporting to a lab while fasting for this test, this article will be good news.
From Doctor's Guide (DG) News, April 27, 2016:
No Need to Fast Before a Cholesterol Test
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- New research from Denmark, Canada, and the United States involving more than 300,000 individuals suggests that patients do not need to check their cholesterol levels on an empty stomach.
Fasting has been required before cholesterol and triglyceride measurement in all countries except Denmark, where non-fasting blood sampling has been used since 2009.
Fasting is a problem for many patients, and the latest research shows that cholesterol and triglyceride levels are similar whether you fast or not. Therefore, it is now advised that patients no longer need to fast.
These recommendations represent a joint consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society and the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine involving 21 World medical experts from Europe, Australia, and the US.
For the study, published in the European Heart Journal, researchers compared random non-fasting lipid profiles with those determined under fasting conditions. Results indicated that the maximal mean changes at 1 to 6 hours after habitual meals were not clinically significant between groups.
This is the first international recommendation that fasting is no longer necessary before cholesterol and triglyceride testing.
“This will improve patients compliance to preventive treatment aimed at reducing number of heart attacks and strokes, the main killers in the world,” said Borge Nordestgaard, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
In Denmark, the use of random, non-fasting cholesterol testing at any time of the day irrespective of food intake has been used successfully since 2009. Patients, doctors and laboratories have all benefitted from this simplified procedure.
“That more patients will have their cholesterol and triglycerides measured will facilitate advice from their doctors on how best to prevent heart attacks and strokes in the future,” said Nordestgaard. “We hope that non-fasting cholesterol testing will make more patients together with their doctors implement lifestyle changes and if necessary statin treatment to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease and premature death.”
SOURCE: University of Copenhagen