Assessing agreement between point of care and laboratory results for lipid testing from a clinical perspective

Objectives: Investigate agreement between lipid pathology results from point-of-care testing (PoCT) devices and laboratories.

Design and methods: Agreement was assessed using the Bland-Altman method.

Results: : Mean difference (limits of agreement) were: -0.28 mmol/L (-1.04, 0.48) for total cholesterol, -0.09 mmol/L, (-0.55, 0.36) for HDL-C. Median difference (nonparametric limits of agreement) were 0.07 mmol/L, (-0.40, 3.04) for triglycerides.

Conclusions: The clinical acceptability of the variation between lipid PoCT and laboratory test results is debatable but our work provides baseline data for further research.