I got my results from surgery today. I am a 71 year old female and my reading was 5.7. Serum HDL 4.1 and LDL 3.6. This was a non fasting test. Should I be worried?
Cholesterol levels are normally checked after fasting and I would have expected your surgery to know that.
Your total cholesterol will be LDL+HDL+20%lipids so can't understand your total of 5.7. Ask your surgery to check and explain.
Hi Jackie
the answer is plain and simply 'no' your reading is absolutely fine.
I know the powers that be recommend a total cholesterol level of 5 and under, but your is just 0.7 above that and more importantly your HDL level ( good cholesterol) is fantastic. NHS recommendation is an HDL level of above 1 at 4.1 you're way above that so that's great, you are obviously doing something right.
Did you get a Triglceride level?
Hi Jackie,
Recent studies have questioned the utility of fasting before lipid test and some diagnostic labs now accept non-fasting samples, however it would be better to do lipid profile testing after 12 hours fasting. If the testing is performed when a person is not fasting, only the HDL and total cholesterol values are useful for risk assessment.
You have not mentioned lab unit, please let me know the lab unit. Is it g/dL or mmol/L?
For risk assessment, please check your cholesterol ratio. It is the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL. A high ratio indicates a higher risk of heart disease while a low ratio indicates a lower risk. The goal is to keep the ratio below 5.0; the optimum ratio is 3.5. If the ratio is above 4:1, you have a risk of heart disease. LDL is also an important factor in risk assessment, but for that you have to do a fasting lipid profile. LDL more than 4.12 mmol/l indicates high risk of heart disease.
Hi pats don't know what you mean byg/dl or mmo/L. Our surgery now says you do not have to fast before test.
Trying to find out what lipids are as receptionist doesn't know till the doctor sees reports.
Trying to get that but can't get it until doctor in on Thursday.