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Cholesterol - Diagnosis

Description

An in-depth report on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Alternative Names

Hypercholesterolemia; LDL; HDL; Triglycerides

Diagnosis:

Blood tests can easily measure cholesterol levels. A blood test for cholesterol should include the entire lipoprotein profile: LDL, total cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides. It is very difficult to measure LDL levels by themselves, but LDL levels can be reliably calculated using total cholesterol and HDL levels.

To obtain a reliable cholesterol reading, doctors advise:

Avoid strenuous exercise for 24 hours before the test.
Do not eat or drink anything but water for 12 hours beforehand.
If the test results are abnormal, a second test should be performed between 1 week and 2 months after the first test.

Screening Guidelines

Periodic cholesterol testing is recommended in all adults, but the major national guidelines differ on the age to start testing.

Recommended starting ages are between 20 - 35 for men and 20 - 45 for women.
Adults with normal cholesterol levels do not need to have the test repeated for 5 years unless changes occur in lifestyle (including weight gain and diet).
Adults with a history of elevated cholesterol, diabetes, kidney problems, heart disease, and other conditions require more frequent testing.

Screening with a fasting lipid profile is recommended for children who:

Have risk factors such as a family history of high cholesterol, and history of heart attacks before age 55 for men and before age 65 for women. Screening should begin as early as age 2 and no later than age 10.
Are obese (above 85th percentile for weight) or who have diabetes. If the child� ' s cholesterol level tests normal, retesting is recommended in 3 - 5 years.

Patients already being treated for high cholesterol should be checked every 2 - 6 months.

Resources

www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncep -- National Cholesterol Education Program
www.nhlbi.nih.gov -- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
www.acc.org -- American College of Cardiology
www.americanheart.org -- American Heart Association
www.eatright.org -- American Dietetic Association

References

AHA; ACC; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Smith SC Jr, Allen J, Blair SN, et al. AHA/ACC guidelines for secondary prevention for patients with coronary and other atherosclerotic vascular disease: 2006 update endorsed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 May 16;47(10):2130-9.

Armitage J. The safety of statins in clinical practice. Lancet. 2007 Nov 24;370(9601):1781-90.

Barter P, Gotto AM, LaRosa JC, Maroni J, Szarek M, Grundy SM, et al. HDL cholesterol, very low levels of LDL cholesterol, and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 2007 Sep 27;357(13):1301-10.

Briel M, Ferreira-Gonzalez I, You JJ, Karanicolas PJ, Akl EA, Wu P, et al. Association between change in high density lipoprotein cholesterol and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality: systematic review and meta-regression analysis. BMJ. 2009 Feb 16;338:b92. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b92.

Crouse JR 3rd, Raichlen JS, Riley WA, Evans GW, Palmer MK, O'Leary DH, et al. Effect of rosuvastatin on progression of carotid intima-media thickness in low-risk individuals with subclinical atherosclerosis: The METEOR Trial. JAMA. 2007 Mar 25; [Epub ahead of print]

Daniels SR, Greer FR; Committee on Nutrition. Lipid screening and cardiovascular health in childhood. Pediatrics. 2008 Jul;122(1):198-208.

Ford I, Murray H, Packard CJ, Shepherd J, Macfarlane PW, Cobbe S. Long-term follow-up of the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 11;357(15):1477-86.

Gaziano M, Manson JE, Ridker PM. Primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Braunwald E, Zipes DP, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, 8th ed. Saunders; 2007;chap 45.

Hlatky MA. Expanding the orbit of primary prevention--moving beyond JUPITER. N Engl J Med. 2008 Nov 20;359(21):2280-2. Epub 2008 Nov 9.

Jolliffe CJ, Janssen I. Distribution of lipoproteins by age and gender in adolescents. Circulation. 2006 Sep 5;114(10):1056-62. Epub 2006 Aug 28.

Kodama S, Tanaka S, Saito K, Shu M, Sone Y, Onitake F, et al. Effect of aerobic exercise training on serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: a meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 28;167(10):999-1008.

McCrindle BW, Urbina EM, Dennison BA, Jacobson MS, Steinberger J, Rocchini AP, et al. Drug therapy of high-risk lipid abnormalities in children and adolescents. A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in Youth Committee, Council of Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, With the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing. Circulation. 2007 Mar 21; [Epub ahead of print]

Park MK. Dyslipidemia and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors. In: Pediatric Cardiology for Practitioners, 5th ed. Mosby; 2008:chap 33.

Ridker PM, Danielson E, Fonseca FA, Genest J, Gotto AM Jr, Kastelein JJ, et al. Rosuvastatin to prevent vascular events in men and women with elevated C-reactive protein. N Engl J Med. 2008 Nov 20;359(21):2195-207. Epub 2008 Nov 9.

Thavendiranathan P, Bagai A, Brookhart MA, Choudhry NK. Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases with statin therapy: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Nov 27;166(21):2307-13.

US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for lipid disorders in children: US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Pediatrics. 2007 Jul;120(1):e215-9.

Reviewed last on: 5/5/2009
Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

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