Serum cholesterol levels can drop in critically ill ICU patients as the body funnels cholesterol to the adrenal glands for cortisol production.

“the few times I would accidentally order the wrong set of Labs on a patient in the ICU and also order like a lipid test or something you would always notice their cholesterol levels were dropping you know serum cholesterol levels and I now realize why because they were basically just funneling cholesterol to the adrenals to make more of the cortisol that they needed to combat whatever they were in the ICU for which is usually the most severe form of you know stress the body is under”