High cholesterol has no symptoms; thus, a routine screening test is requiring for diagnosis. Hyperlipidemia can even by diagnosed without fasting.
Cholesterol screening without fasting
If it is impossible 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.
Diagnosis of hyperlipidemia is 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 are another form of fat in the blood.
Cholesterol levels are measurable 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 above the normal range, then you can be diagnosed as high cholesterol.