Evaluation of five enzymic kits for determination of triglyceride concentrations in plasma.

We evaluated five commercial enzymic kit methods (methods A-E) for the determination of triglyceride concentrations in plasma, by comparing each with the automated fluorometric procedure of the Lipid Research Clinics Program. Aliquots of 91 to 97 samples were analyzed with each kit and with the comparison method. The results obtained with all five kits were highly correlated with those of the comparison method (r = 0.97-0.99). Group mean triglyceride concentrations as determined with kits A and D did not differ significantly from those assayed with the comparison method. The other three kits gave values 6.5-7.5% higher than those by the comparison method (p less than 0.001). The relative biases between the kit and reference methods did not vary with triglyceride concentration for kits B, D, and E; kits A and C had concentration-dependent biases. Kits D and E were the most nearly precise and had coefficients of variation (CVs) of 3.1% or less. Kit B had CVs of 3.8-4.4%; the remaining two kits had CVs of 5.4-6.7%. On the basis of these results, we judged kits B, D, and E to perform most satisfactorily, from the standpoint of their precision and their concentration-independent relationships to the comparison method.