Understanding Your Cholesterol Test

Understanding Your Cholesterol Test Can Help You To Address Your Cholesterol

(LifeWire) - A cholesterol test is called a lipid panel or lipid profile test, which is composed of blood tests to measure the levels of the major forms of cholesterol -- total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (also known as "good cholesterol" or HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (also known as "bad cholesterol" or LDL) -- and also to measure the triglyceride levels.

Information from these tests will be correlated with your personal and family history to predict your personal risk of heart disease, heart attack or stroke. Once your risk category is determined, you and your doctor can discuss whether you will need any lifestyle modifications or other treatments to lower your risk.

Who Should Have a Lipid Profile Test?

The National Institutes of Health National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that people begin having their lipid profile checked at age 20. The lipid profile test should be repeated every 5 years for women under the age of 50 and men under the age of 45.

How Frequently Should Testing Be Done?

You may need to have your lipid profile drawn more frequently if you have any of the major risk factors for heart disease.

Major Risk Factors for Heart Disease

• Age over 45 (men) or over 50 (women)
• HDL cholesterol level under 40 mg/dL
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Family history of heart disease at a young age
• Personal history of heart disease

If you already have heart disease, or if you have already been diagnosed with high cholesterol, you may need to have your lipid profile done several times a year to monitor your cholesterol levels and ensure that the treatment recommendations are working for you.

What is Required for a Lipid Profile Test?

You will be asked to fast -- consuming nothing but water -- for 12 to 14 hours before you have your blood drawn for a lipid panel. The results will usually give you your total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels.

What is Total Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance that your body produces and that you ingest in food. Cholesterol is an important component of all the cells in your body and it performs other important functions, but too much cholesterol can accumulate along blood vessel walls, increasing your blood pressure. Total cholesterol is a number that adds up to all the various forms of cholesterol in your bloodstream.

How Does Total Cholesterol Reflect My Risk of Heart Disease?

• Low risk or desirable: Less than 200 mg/dL
• Moderate risk: 200-240 mg/dL
• High risk: Over 240 mg/dL

What is LDL or "Bad Cholesterol"?

LDL is the type of cholesterol that's considered the "bad cholesterol" because it predisposes you to atherosclerosis, or narrowing and blockage of the arteries, sometimes referred to as "hardening of the arteries." This can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

How Do LDL Levels Reflect My Risk of Heart Disease?

Your target LDL levels depend on what other risk factors you have for heart disease. For example, if you have no major risk factors for heart disease, then the following values are used:

• Low risk or desirable: Less than 130 mg/dL
• Intermediate risk: 131-160 mg/dL
• Moderately high risk: 161-190 mg/dL
• High risk: Over 190 mg/dL

Target goals for LDL change depending on whether you are already being treated for high LDL or whether you have other major risk factors for heart disease (see previous list):

• If you have heart disease or diabetes: Less than 100 mg/dL
• If you have an intermediate risk of heart disease (2 or more risk factors): Less than 130 mg/dL
• If you have a low risk for heart disease (0 to 1 risk factor): Less than 160 mg/dL

HDL is considered "good cholesterol" because it is actually protective against the development of atherosclerosis.

How Does HDL Reflect My Risk of Heart Disease?

It is healthy to have higher HDL levels because they reflect that you are at less risk of developing heart disease.

• Low risk or desirable: Greater than 40 mg/dL
• Intermediate risk: 31-40 mg/dL
• Moderately high risk: 25-30 mg/dL
• High risk: Less than 25 mg/dL

What Are Triglycerides?

If you eat more calories than you need to burn for energy, some of those calories are converted into triglycerides, a form of fat that circulates in your bloodstream and is stored in your fat cells. Researchers are still trying to determine whether high triglycerides alone are a risk factor for heart disease.

It is known that high triglyceride levels are one of the characteristics of metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of conditions, including obesity, increased fat around the waist area, blood sugar abnormalities, high cholesterol  levels and high blood pressure, in addition to high triglycerides -- that predispose a person to heart disease.

What Does My Triglyceride Level Mean?

• Low risk or desirable: less than 150 mg/dL
• Intermediate risk: 151-250 mg/dL
• Moderately high risk: 251-400 mg/dL
• High risk: Over 400 mg/dL

How Can I Improve My Lipid Panel?

The American Heart Association's cholesterol "Heart Profilers" will provide you with a personalized profile of your cardiovascular disease risk, along with ways to improve your heart health.

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