Is lipaemia the same as hyperlipidemia?

Question

I'm translating a Russian text and one of the sentences goes like this:

Среди сывороток были образцы с гемолизом и липемией.
The serum samples contained samples with hemolysis and lipaemia.

I think that it might be good to translate the word as hyperlipidemia, because sometimes Russian authors use dated terminology in their texts, and "hyperlipidemia" is more widely used in English.

However, there might be some difference between the two terms of which I could be unaware. Is there any difference, and what might it be?

Answer 1

These are not really synonymous. Despite some sites claiming them to be. Compare the usage on this site.

Lipaemia is describing lab artifacts, that is roughly too much fat in the blood sample that interferes with other tests and measurements.

Hyperlipidemia is what is wanted to get measured in a blood sample, that is lipo-proteins or roughly: cholesterol.

Clin Chim Acta. 2013 Mar 15;418:30-2. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2012.12.029. Epub 2013 Jan 8. Lipaemia: causes, consequences and solutions. Walker PL, Crook MA.

The detection of lipaemia in a patient blood sample can be a clinical conundrum as well as an analytical nuisance. With a reported prevalence of 0.7% in all blood samples received for lipid studies its finding has been suggested to be an underappreciated problem 5. Its presence can have a significant impact on the validity of a number of routine blood tests. The intention of this report is to outline the causes of lipaemia, the clinical and analytical consequences of its presence and some of the tools the laboratory employ to reduce its effects. Both laboratory professionals and clinicians should have an appreciation of the analytical and clinical impact lipaemia may confer on routine biochemistry.

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Hyperlipidemia
ALSO CALLED Hypercholesterolemia, familial hypercholesterolemia, elevated cholesterol, elevated cholesterol levels

By Gregory L. Moneta
Hyperlipidemia is an umbrella term that refers to any of several acquired or genetic disorders that result in a high level of lipids (fats, cholesterol and triglycerides) circulating in the blood. These lipids can enter the walls of arteries and increase your risk of developing atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which can lead to stroke, heart attack and the need to amputate. The risk of atherosclerosis is higher if you smoke, or if you have or develop diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney failure.

Answer 2

Because the context refers to a serum sample, and it sounds like a low quality one, you should use lipemia (or, the british variant lipaemia), not hyperlipidemia.

See here for an example of the context where this is used.

Hemolysis, icterus, and lipemia (HIL) in patient specimens may interfere with the accurate measurement of various analytes