Interpretation
Total cholesterol is a measure of all the cholesterol in the sample. This can further be broken down into its main constituents, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol, and reported as part of the lipid profile.
Patients with dyslipidaemia (particularly those with elevated LDL cholesterol) are at an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Total cholesterol is used to calculate the cholesterol/HDL ratio which is included in some cardiovascular risk algorithms to generate a 5-year or 10-year cardiovascular risk for an individual patient. This risk score is then used to make management decisions.
Reference Intervals
Total cholesterol results should not be interpreted against a reference interval. Total cholesterol results should be used to assess overall cardiovascular risk, as discussed above.
Test Method
Enzymatic assay performed on Beckman Coulter AU5822 analyser using Beckman Coulter reagents.
