If a patient's specimen is described as lipemic, what does this indicate about the patient?

When a patient's specimen is described as lipemic, it indicates that the sample contains an elevated level of lipids or fats, which typically occurs when a patient has not fasted prior to the blood draw. Ingestion of food, particularly fatty foods, can lead to an increase in triglycerides and other lipids in the bloodstream, resulting in a cloudy or milky appearance of the serum or plasma.

In this context, the presence of lipemia suggests that the patient has recently consumed food and therefore has not adhered to fasting guidelines. Fasting prior to certain blood tests is crucial as it helps ensure accurate measurement of various laboratory values. Analyzing a lipemic sample can be problematic, as it can interfere with the accuracy of test results, leading to potential misinterpretations.

This information clearly aligns with the choice indicating that the patient is not fasting, which is supported by the observation of lipemia in their specimen.