Quantification of lipoprotein(a) in dried blood spots and screening for above-normal lipoprotein(a) concentrations in newborns.

Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is considered an additional, independent, and largely genetically determined risk factor for the development of premature coronary heart disease. Analogous with increased Lp(a) concentrations that represent an additional risk factor in adults, above-normal concentrations of Lp(a) can be detected in five- to seven-day-old newborns. We describe a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for measuring Lp(a) in dried blood spots collected by heel-prick in five- to seven-day-old infants. Lp(a) could be quantitatively recovered from blood spots. We chose a cutoff value of 100 mg/L for identifying the newborns at risk, based on the Lp(a) distribution in 180 such infants.