What is a Lipid Profile test?
A lipid profile test is performed to evaluate the potential risks of cardiovascular diseases in both adults and children. Low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein and total cholesterol amount is measured through this test. In other words, this test effectively helps to detect the chances of heart disease, stroke etc by analyzing the cholesterol amount in the blood.
What is the use of a Lipid Profile test?
The test effectively helps the medical expert to know about your cholesterol levels and to know if your cholesterol levels are normal or comes into the high risk category. In case you are having abnormal cholesterol levels, then this test is performed for monitoring the cholesterol amount in the blood to determine the probabilities of heart diseases. Apart from that, if you are already on treatment because of abnormal cholesterol levels, this test is performed to know how your body is responding to the treatment. Sometimes, certain medical conditions are also diagnosed through a lipid profile test.
Why do you need a Lipid Profile test?
Increment of cholesterol in the body may cause uncountable harms that you have no idea about. Aggressive increment of cholesterol can be the reason for many heart diseases, which may even turn fatal if not detected or treated on time in a proper manner. Apart from that, High cholesterol in the body can also be the reason for disgraceful disorders like obesity and many other serious physical complexions. Undoubtedly, there lies the importance of this test.
Test preparation and sample collection
9-12 hours of fasting is generally recommended before appearing for a lipid profile test. A little amount of blood sample will be fetched from your vein by a medical expert and the following test will be performed on that sample.
Result interpretation
A normal cholesterol report should be like,
- Total Cholesterol : below 200 mg/dL
- HDL Cholesterol: Above 60 mg/dL
- LDL cholesterol: below 100 mg/dL (For diabetic patients : Below 70 mg/dL)
- Triglycerides: Below 150 mg/dL