High cholesterol has no
symptoms, thus routine screening test is needed for diagnosis. High
cholesterol can even by diagnosed without fasting.
Cholesterol Screening test without fasting
If
it is not possible to get a lipoprotein profile done, knowing your
total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol can give you a general idea about
your cholesterol levels. Testing for total and HDL cholesterol does not
require fasting.
If the total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL or more,
or if the HDL is less than 40 mg/dL, will need to have a lipoprotein
profile done.
High blood cholesterol is diagnosed by checking
levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is best to have a blood test
called a lipoprotein profile to measure the cholesterol levels.
Before taking blood test for cholesterol needs to fast (not eat or drink anything except water) for 9 to 12 hours.
Lipoprotein profile
Lipoprotein profile will provide information about:
- Total cholesterol
- Low density lipoprotein (LDL) otherwise called as bad cholesterol.
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) otherwise called as good cholesterol.
- Triglycerides: another form of fat in the blood.
Cholesterol levels are measured in mg/dL or mmol/L of blood.
Normal cholesterol ranges
- Total cholesterol less than 200 mg/dL or 5.2 mmol/L
- LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL or 2.6 mmol/L
- HDL cholesterol greater than 40 mg/dL or 1 mmol/L
- Triglycerides below 150 mg/dL or 1.7 mmol/L
If the cholesterol level is out of the above normal cholesterol range then you can be diagnosed as high cholesterol.
