Evaluation of an automated procedure for primary screening of hyperlipoproteinemias.

An automated procedure for the determination of beta-plus-pre-beta-lipoprotein cholesterol is described and evaluated for mass screening of hyperlipoproteinemias. It is shown that this method fulfills the requirements for an ideal method for primary screening: it can be used in non-fasting samples, is capable of detecting hyperlipoproteinemias characterized by both cholesterol and/or triglyceride abnormalities, is fast, accurate and extremely inexpensive. Evidence is shown that the method is extremely useful for primary screening and, when tested in a coronary screening detection program, gave only 4% false positive and 3.4% false negative results.