ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Comparison of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol calculated by Friedewald formula

and Anandaraja’s formula in Bangladeshi population

MR Rahman1, M Saiedullah2, S Shermin3, M Ferdoush2

1
Department of Biochemistry, Delta Medical College, Dhaka.
2
Bangladesh Institute of Health Sciences, Dhaka.
3
BIRDEM OPD, Dhaka.
Abstract:
The reference method for determination of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-
C) is ß-quantification which is time consuming, labor intensive and is not suitable for
general laboratories. Direct method is also a costly one. There are several formulae
for estimation of LDL-C and Friedewald’s formula (fLDL-C) is the most widely used
one which requires serum total cholesterol, serum triacyl glycerol and serum high-
density lipoprotein cholesterol for calculation. An alternative to Friedewald’s formula
that does not require the measurement of serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol
was published by Anandaraja et. al. In this work we aimed to examine the
applicability of Anandaraja’s formula (aLDL-C) as a replacement of Friedewald’s
formula in Bangladeshi subjects. 273 fasting samples were randomly chosen
irrespective of age, sex & health status during the period of January 2009 to June
2009. Calculated fLDL-C and aLDL-C was compared with LDL-C measured by direct
method (dLDL-C). The mean LDL-C values of direct, Friedewald’s and Anandaraja’s
were 130.66±47.61, 126.8±52.59 and 121.1±50.09 respectively. Both the calculated
values significantly differ from the value obtained by direct method. Both the
calculated values correlate significantly (r = 0.9838 for fLDL-C & 0.9737 for aLDL-C)
with the directly measured value. Though the value obtained from Friedewald’s and
Anandaraja’s formulas independently differ significantly from the directly measured
value the mean difference is negligible from clinical point of view. It can be
concluded that Anandaraja’s formula can be used with effective caution & limitation
in context of our country. [Originally published in Bang J Med Biochem
2009;2(1):18-20]
Key words:
LDL-C = Low density lipoprotein cholesterol, fLDL-C - LDL-C calculated by Friedewald’s
formula, aLDL-C - LDL-C calculated by Anandaraja’s formula, dLDL-C - LDL-C measured by
direct method.

Introduction: Low density lipoprotein general laboratories. Direct methods

cholesterol (LDL-C) is one of the which do not require any pretreatment
important components of lipid and are also available but all are costly. As a
considered as an important risk factor of result most laboratories use
ischemic heart disease. The reference Friedewald’s equation for the
method for determination of LDL-C is ß- determination of serum LDL-C from
quantification which is time consuming, serum total cholesterol (TC), serum
labor intensive and is not suitable for triacyl glycerol (TG) and serum high-

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