High cholesterol is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. In the Netherlands, about a quarter of all people over 30 are affected by high cholesterol. You don’t notice elevated cholesterol at first; symptoms are only noticed at an advanced stage. This is unfortunate. If you find out at an early stage, for example through a cholesterol test, that your cholesterol is high, often something can be done about it. Only through an accurate laboratory blood test can you find out at an early stage whether you have high cholesterol. Curious about your cholesterol levels? The cholesterol self-test shows if your cholesterol is good, or if there is an elevated level.
The components of a cholesterol test
There are several tests to measure your cholesterol. Many tests only examine “total” cholesterol, a measure of all types of cholesterol combined. Laboratory testing can identify all the different types of cholesterol. This gives you insight into how much “good” HDL cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol your blood contains and especially what the ratio is between the two. In this test, these are the following components:
LDL (bad) cholesterol
HDL (good) cholesterol
LDL / Ratio index
Triglycerides
