Pseudodyslipidemia: are we over-treating dyslipidemia in diabetic patients with undiagnosed gastroparesis?

Management of dyslipidemia in diabetic patients poses a major burden on both patients and healthcare providers. Gastroparesis, a condition in which gastric emptying is delayed, is a common condition in diabetes. Given the fact that normal values of plasma lipids are standardized to be measured after several hours of fasting, delayed transit of food and nutrients into the small bowel (as occurs in gastroparesis) may result in an artificial increase in plasma lipids, causing misdiagnosis of dyslipidemia (pseudodyslipidemia), and lead to overtreatment with lipid-lowering agents.