Evaluation of Friedewald?s Formula for Plasma LDL-Cholesterol Estimation

Background: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) can contribute to atherosclerosis if it is oxidized within the walls of arteries. Therefore, LDL-C plays an important role in cardiovascular disease risk assessment and prevention. The current study aims to evaluate the validity of Friedewald's formula in the Taiwanese population. Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, a data set containing 31,729 results was used and lipid profiles of all samples were measured using the Beckman Coulter AU680 clinical chemistry analyzer. This study was conducted from September 2016 to August 2019. Results: The agreement between the direct and calculated LDL-C was significant with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) of 0.904 (p < 0.001). Mean LDL-C levels were 99.3 +/- 32.8 mg/dL and 95.3 +/- 37.6 mg/dL for direct and calculated LDC-C, respectively. Conclusions: Good agreement was observed between direct and calculated LDC-C. Therefore, it can be concluded that Friedewald's formula is applicable in LDL-C estimation when the direct method is not affordable.