A Look At How You Should Interpret Cholesterol Test Results

As soon as you receive your cholesterol test results you will then need to find out how to interpret these results and for that it is necessary to get in touch with a good healthcare provider that will teach you all that you need to know in this regard. It is also advisable to use guidelines issued by the National Cholesterol Education Program or NCEP of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health to learn about the proper interpretation of the results. It also pays to understand that cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol that are present in a single deciliter (dl) of blood.

What's The Total Level Of Cholesterol Present In Your Blood?

The first piece of information that the cholesterol test results will throw up is the total levels of cholesterol in your blood. To properly interpret these cholesterol test results you need to know that a reading of less than two hundred milligrams per deciliter is OK while readings of between two hundred and two hundred and thirty-nine milligrams per deciliter would be considered borderline high and such a reading will show that you are at risk of developing heart disease.

A reading of total cholesterol level that exceeds two hundred and thirty-nine milligrams per deciliter will be considered high and will require getting treatment at the earliest.

The second aspect to interpreting cholesterol test results has to do with levels of bad cholesterol and here a reading of less than one hundred milligrams per deciliter is considered optimal. On the other hand, readings of between one hundred and one hundred and twenty-nine milligrams per deciliter will be considered semi optimal. A reading of between 130 and 159 mg/dl is considered as being borderline high while a reading of one hundred and sixty milligrams per deciliter to one hundred and eighty nine milligrams per deciliter is considered high. Lastly, anything above 189 mg/dl is considered very high and is reason to be concerned.

Similarly, when cholesterol test results show levels of good cholesterol to be sixty milligrams per deciliter or more you have no reason to be worried though below this sixty milligrams per deciliter reading it would mean that you are at risk of developing heart diseases. Lastly, you have to study the cholesterol test results to see what the reading for triglycerides levels is and here anything between 150 and 199 mg/dl is considered borderline high while reading of 200 mg/dl or more is considered high and can increase risks for heart diseases.

A cholesterol blood test is often used whenever it becomes necessary to measure the level of cholesterol as well as level of triglycerides that are present in a person's serum that is of course part of their blood. Such a test is easily performed at home with the help of home testing kits that are readily available over the counter.