Background: To evaluate the influence of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] concentration on the LDL-cholesterol calculated by the Friedewald formula.
Material and methods: Lp(a) was determined to a worker population of 947 subject in order to perform a correction of LDL-cholesterol obtained by the Friedewald formula.
Results: In subjects in whom Lp(a) was > 30 mg/dl (12.9%) LDL-cholesterol levels were overestimated 10 mg/dl at least.
Conclusion: Lp(a) should be considered in order to reduce Friedewald's formula error on the estimation of LDL-cholesterol.