Secondary hyperlipidaemia.

The secondary hyperlipidaemias occur remarkably frequently, and the underlying cause of high serum lipid levels will often be missed if it is not actively sought. Diagnosis is important because the lipid abnormality responds to treatment of the primary disorder in most cases; notable exceptions to this, however, are the hyperlipidaemias associated with gout and chronic renal failure. The conditions regularly associated with hyperlipidaemias are listed in the table. There is no lipoprotein pattern which is specific for any one of these, and almost any pattern may occur in every condition; the pattern may even vary from time to time in the same patient.