The accuracy of portable cholesterol analyzers in public screening programs
M. J. Naughton, R. V. Luepker and D. Strickland
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
To determine the accuracy of portable cholesterol analyzers in public
settings, four screening organizations were accompanied to cholesterol
screenings where consenting participants completed the finger-stick
procedure and provided a blood sample by venipuncture. The finger-stick
values were compared later with the participants' blood cholesterol values
obtained in a reference laboratory. The results indicated that only one of
the organizations produced cholesterol measurements entirely within the
acceptable range (+/- 14.2%), while the accuracy of the other three
organizations ranged from 76.5% to 96.4%. Those finger-stick values that
did not fall within the acceptable range tended to underestimate the
laboratory cholesterol values. Additionally, classification of the persons
screened based on the National Cholesterol Education Program risk
categories indicated that the finger-stick values primarily tended to
produce false-negative results. The variability of the results across
organizations was caused partially by insufficient operator training.
However, inadequate quality-control procedures for field settings and
dilution of capillary blood by tissue fluid also may have contributed to
the inaccurate finger-stick results.
