Time to Make a Change: Assessing LDL-C Accurately in the Era of Modern Pharmacotherapeutics and Precision Medicine

The Friedewald equation for estimation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was published in 1972 as an alternative to direct assessment by preparative ultracentrifugation. In this equation, very low-density lipoprotein is estimated by dividing triglycerides by a fixed factor (5 in mg/dL or 2.2 in mmol/L) and subtracting this term from non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C). This method was derived in fasting samples from...