Lipid screening in adults

The row as the screening table writes it

Hyperlipidemia appears as one row of a Common Screening Programs table, and the table is set out as Disease/Condition, Screening Test, Who to Screen, and Frequency / Key Point. The row reads:

• Screening Test: lipid profile
• Who to Screen: adults with risk factors or by age guideline
• Frequency / Key Point: usually every 4-6 yrs

The three questions, answered

• The investigation of choice is the lipid profile. Not a fasting glucose, not an HbA1c - those are the diabetes mellitus type 2 row of the same table.
• Who to screen: adults with risk factors or by age guideline. Unlike the rows around it, the lipid row gives no age range of its own, so the age comes from the guideline in use, and the risk factors stand on their own.
• How often: usually every 4-6 yrs. That is a longer gap than diabetes mellitus type 2 at every 3 yrs, and shorter than colorectal cancer by colonoscopy at every 10 yrs.