Lipid Panel

What is a lipid panel?

A lipid panel is a blood test that measures the amount of fat molecules called lipids in your blood. In most cases, the panel includes four different cholesterol measurements and a measurement of your triglycerides.

Having too many lipids in your blood can lead to a fatty substance building up in your arteries. This can cause your arteries to narrow and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Healthcare providers use lipid panels for both children and adults to evaluate your risk of diseases like heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Other common names for a lipid panel include:

• Lipid profile
• Lipid test
• Cholesterol panel
• Coronary risk panel
• Fasting lipid panel or non-fasting lipid panel

What are the five tests in a lipid panel?

A lipid panel measures five different types of lipids from a blood sample, including:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that’s known as “bad cholesterol.” It can collect in your blood vessels and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol. This is a type of cholesterol that comes from food you’ve recently eaten. It’s typically present in low amounts when you have a fasting blood panel. An increase in this type of cholesterol in a fasting sample may be a sign that your body isn’t processing cholesterol correctly.
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that’s known as “good cholesterol.” It helps decrease the buildup of LDL in your blood vessels.
• Total cholesterol. This is your overall cholesterol level — the combination of LDL-C, VLDL-C and HDL-C.
• Triglycerides. This is a type of fat from the food we eat. Excess amounts of triglycerides in your blood are associated with cardiovascular disease and pancreatic inflammation.

While these are the main measurements in a standard lipid panel, some versions of the test may include other measurements.

What is a lipid panel used for?

Healthcare providers use lipid panels to help assess your cardiovascular health by analyzing cholesterol in your blood. This helps them diagnose conditions that affect your heart and blood vessels.

Reasons a provider may order a lipid panel include:

• As a routine test to determine if your cholesterol level is in a healthy range or falls into a high-risk category
• To monitor your cholesterol level if you had abnormal results on a previous test or if you have other risk factors for heart disease
• To monitor your body’s response to cholesterol medications
• To help diagnose other medical conditions, such as liver disease

Why do I need a lipid panel blood test?

There are several reasons why you may need a lipid panel blood test.

If you have one or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease, your provider may suggest frequent screening with a lipid panel to try to catch elevated cholesterol levels. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease include:

• Being older than 45 if you’re assigned male at birth (AMAB) or 50 if you’re assigned female at birth (AFAB)
• Having a high cholesterol result on a previous test
• Smoking cigarettes
• Having obesity
• Not getting enough physical activity
• Having high blood pressure
• Having diabetes or prediabetes
• Having a biological parent or sibling who developed heart disease at a young age

Children may need a lipid panel blood test, too. Cholesterol levels in children are linked to three factors: heredity, obesity and the types of foods children eat. In most cases, kids with high cholesterol have a parent who also has elevated cholesterol.

Providers sometimes use lipid panels to diagnose conditions that can affect your lipid levels, including:

• Pancreatitis
• Chronic kidney disease
• Hypothyroidism

What should I expect during my lipid panel blood test?

You can expect to experience the following during a lipid blood test:

• You’ll sit in a chair, and a phlebotomist will check your arms for an easily accessible vein. This is usually in the inner part of your arm, on the other side of your elbow.
• Once they’ve located a vein, they’ll clean and disinfect the area.
• They’ll then insert a small needle into your vein to take a blood sample. This may feel like a small pinch.
• After they insert the needle, a small amount of blood will collect in a test tube.
• Once they have enough blood to test, they’ll remove the needle and hold a cotton ball or gauze on the site to stop the bleeding.
• They’ll place a bandage over the site, and you’ll be finished.

The entire procedure usually takes less than five minutes.

Do I need to fast for a lipid panel?

In most cases, you need to fast for 10 to 12 hours before your lipid panel blood test. Fasting means not eating or drinking anything except water. In some cases, getting a lipid panel test without fasting is possible.

It’s important to ask your healthcare provider in advance about whether you need to fast before the test. Always follow the instructions that your provider gives you. If your provider has instructed you to fast and you accidentally eat something, please let them know because the test isn’t as useful without fasting.

What should I expect after my lipid panel blood test?

After a healthcare provider has collected your blood sample, they’ll send it to a laboratory for testing. Once the test results are back, your healthcare provider will share the results with you.

What do the results of a lipid panel mean?

Test results for a lipid panel usually provide the following information:

• The name of the blood test or what was measured in your blood
• The number or measurement of your blood test result
• The normal measurement range for that test
• Information that indicates whether your result is normal or abnormal, or high or low

When can I expect my lipid panel results?

In most cases, you should have your lipid panel results back in a few days, though it could take longer.

What are normal lipid panel results?

The ideal level (measured in milligrams per deciliter of blood — mg/dL) for each of the four standard tests in a lipid panel are as follows:

• Total cholesterol: Below 200 mg/dL.
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol: Above 60 mg/dL.
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol: Below 100 mg/dL (or below 70 mg/dL for people who have diabetes).
• Triglycerides: Below 150 mg/dL.

If your results are higher or lower than the target range, they may be classified as borderline-, intermediate-, or high-risk for cardiovascular issues. In general, higher-than-normal levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides and lower-than-normal levels of HDL can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

It’s rare to have abnormally low levels of cholesterol. If you do, it’s usually due to a health condition that’s causing malnutrition.

Should I be concerned if I have abnormal lipid panel results?

No. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a medical condition or need treatment.

A healthy cholesterol range for you may depend on many factors. Your healthcare provider will consider a few factors when interpreting your lipid panel results, including your:

• Age.
• Overall health.
• Medical history.
• Current medications.
• Other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Many providers use a special risk calculator using these factors to determine if you need further tests or treatment. If you have questions about your results, don’t be afraid to talk to your provider.

What are the next steps if my lipid panel results are abnormal?

Since many factors contribute to cardiovascular disease and every person is unique, there’s no single way to treat abnormal levels of cholesterol and/or triglycerides.

If you have abnormal lipid panel results, your healthcare provider may recommend one or more of the following:

• Continued lipid monitoring
• Tweaking your daily routine, such as changing what foods you eat or getting more physical activity
• Starting a cholesterol-lowering medication

When should I call my healthcare provider?

If you develop new risk factors for cardiovascular disease, contact your healthcare provider. They may have you undergo a lipid panel or more frequent lipid panel screening.

How often should you get a lipid panel?

Your healthcare provider will tell you when you’ll need a lipid panel. It depends mostly on if you have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, although age and medical history also play a role. Even young children may need to have a lipid panel if they have one or more risk factors.

It’s best to talk to your healthcare provider and give them your complete health history to see what they recommend.