NATION IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Inaccuracies Cited in Cholesterol Tests

Cholesterol tests conducted by private testing companies are highly inaccurate up to 25% of the time, and some widely used portable testing machines have unacceptably high error rates, studies reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. said. Poorly trained operators are a primary cause of erroneous readings, one study found. Three brands of machines were found to have the highest error rates--the Analyst, made by Du Pont Inc., the Seralyzer, made by Miles Laboratories Inc., and the Reflotron, made by Boehringer-Mannheim Diagnostics Inc. Excess cholesterol in the blood is an indicator of increased likelihood of heart disease.