Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) Practice Exam

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Which laboratory test requires a patient to fast for a minimum of 8 hours prior?

Lipid profile
A1c
Microalbumin
ALT/AST

The correct answer is: Lipid profile

Fasting for a minimum of 8 hours is essential for obtaining accurate results from a lipid profile. This test measures the levels of different types of lipids in the blood, including total cholesterol, LDL (low-density lipoprotein), HDL (high-density lipoprotein), and triglycerides. Fasting helps ensure that the measurements are not influenced by recent food intake, which can cause temporary spikes in triglyceride levels, leading to inaccurate assessments of the individual's baseline lipid levels. In contrast, the A1c test provides an average of a person's blood glucose levels over the past two to three months and does not require fasting. Similarly, microalbumin tests, which assess kidney function, and liver function tests like ALT and AST do not require fasting for accurate results. Thus, for tests that are sensitive to recent dietary intake, such as lipid profiles, fasting is necessary to emphasize the baseline physiological state of the lipid levels.