Biomaterial Database

Comparison of Chemcard cholesterol test and laboratory cholesterol measurements. 1995

I E Gan, and G M Schier

Biochemistry Department, Illawarra Regional Hospital, Wollongong, NSW.

BACKGROUND The Chemcard cholesterol test has been designed to estimate cholesterol levels in patients in General Practitioners' surgeries. The patients displaying elevated cholesterol levels may then be referred for a more accurate test at a recognised laboratory. OBJECTIVE To compare the accuracy of the Chemcard cholesterol procedure with a standardised laboratory procedure for estimating cholesterol levels. METHODS The Chemcard cholesterol procedure was applied to 200 subjects from the community, who were enrolled in a cardiovascular risk assessment programme. RESULTS The correlation coefficient between the paired measurements was 0.83. The Chemcard cholesterol procedure gave slightly higher results than did the laboratory procedure as shown by the mean (+/-standard deviation) difference between the two methods of 0.16 +/- 0.58 mmol/L. CONCLUSIONS The poor agreement between the two methods and the potential misclassification by Chemcard suggests that the Chemcard is not a reliable test system. The high level of risk group misclassification found in this study refutes the manufacturer's claims and does not eliminate the need for formal laboratory cholesterol measurement.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008403	Mass Screening	Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease.	Screening,Mass Screenings,Screening, Mass,Screenings,Screenings, Mass
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D011237	Predictive Value of Tests	In screening and diagnostic tests, the probability that a person with a positive test is a true positive (i.e., has the disease), is referred to as the predictive value of a positive test; whereas, the predictive value of a negative test is the probability that the person with a negative test does not have the disease. Predictive value is related to the sensitivity and specificity of the test.	Negative Predictive Value,Positive Predictive Value,Predictive Value Of Test,Predictive Values Of Tests,Negative Predictive Values,Positive Predictive Values,Predictive Value, Negative,Predictive Value, Positive
D011786	Quality Control	A system for verifying and maintaining a desired level of quality in a product or process by careful planning, use of proper equipment, continued inspection, and corrective action as required. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)	Control, Quality,Controls, Quality,Quality Controls
D011934	Reagent Strips	Narrow pieces of material impregnated or covered with a substance used to produce a chemical reaction. The strips are used in detecting, measuring, producing, etc., other substances. (From Dorland, 28th ed)	Reagent Strip,Strip, Reagent,Strips, Reagent
D012016	Reference Values	The range or frequency distribution of a measurement in a population (of organisms, organs or things) that has not been selected for the presence of disease or abnormality.	Normal Range,Normal Values,Reference Ranges,Normal Ranges,Normal Value,Range, Normal,Range, Reference,Ranges, Normal,Ranges, Reference,Reference Range,Reference Value,Value, Normal,Value, Reference,Values, Normal,Values, Reference
D002784	Cholesterol	The principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils.	Epicholesterol
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man