Serum cholesterol methodology: 100 years of development.

Serum cholesterol is the third nationally recommended health screening test. It is the first test which depends upon the chemical analysis of a serum compound. Over the past 100 years, the methods of measurement and methods of standardizing these measurements have improved owing to the combined efforts of clinical research, governmental and non-governmental actions, and commercial producers. The future constancy of serum cholesterol measurement will be based on: (1) National Bureau of Standards (NBS) pure cholesterol standard, (2) NBS Definitive Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrography Method, (3) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Lipid Laboratory Reference Method, and (4) CDC National Reference System for Serum Cholesterol.