Fasting for Cholesterol Testing May Be Unnecessary: That Could Ease the Morning Rush of Patients at Clinical Laboratories
Clinical laboratories may see a reduction in the early-morning crowds of fasting patients who have come in for cholesterol testing
For the clinical laboratory testing industry, a new Canadian study suggesting that people may not need to fast before getting a cholesterol test could prove a boon for staffing and operations at patient service centers. That’s because fasting-patients crowd phlebotomy centers in the early morning hours to get their blood drawn so they can eat breakfast.
It is standard practice to require patients to fast before drawing blood specimens for a cholesterol test. However, based on a study involving 200,000 people, findings led researchers to conclude that a non-fasting lipid test would be a reasonable alternative for most people. (more…)
