Reference intervals for serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, Lp (a), apolipoprotein A-I, A-II, B, C-II, C-III, and E in healthy South Indians from Andhra Pradesh.

The incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease is steadily increasing in South East Asian countries including Indian sub continent. Many lipids, apolipoproteins and Lp (a) except HDL-C and apo A-I, A-II are implicated as risk factors for coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease. There is great need to have national guidelines for each country like the ATP III guidelines recommended for U.S. population. For recommending appropriate medical decision limits, it is mandatory that each country establishes reference intervals pertaining to their population due to dietary, genetic and environmental diversity. In the present study, reference intervals for serum lipids, apolipoproteins and Lp (a) were established in a total of 1923 healthy Indian reference individuals comprising 1161 healthy men and 762 healthy women from Andhra Pradesh. For each analyte viz., serum total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides, Lp (a), Apo A-I, Apo A-II, B, C-II, C-III and E, mean, two SD, median, confidence limits of mean, different percentile values are presented. The study also includes decade wise changes in each analyte and comparison of lipids, lipoproteins and Lp (a) among few populations covering U.S., India, Japan, Sweden, Finland and China. Reference Intervals for all lipid and lipoprotein parameters will immensely help in assessing associated risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in India. Additionally, the results will be beneficial in formulating our own guidelines pertaining to Indian population.