most recent picks the most recently available value. This may in fact be the value on the current episode. For example, given the following case fragment:

           01 Jun 02    30 Jun 03     02 Nov 03
HDL           2.0          2.2           1.9
LDL           4.7          3.1
LipidDrug                  Y

most recent HDL is 1.9

most recent LDL is 3.1

most recent LipidDrug is “Y”