Cholesterol Screening Test
High cholesterol has some symptoms, mostly harmless or difficult to recognize. Thus, need a routine screening test for high-cholesterol diagnosis; you can do if without fasting.
Cholesterol screening without fasting
Knowing the total and HDL cholesterol can give general idea about the cholesterol levels, if not interested in getting lipoprotein profile after fasting. Additionally, this screening test does not require fasting.
You need lipoprotein profile done, if a screening cholesterol result has the total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or more, or the HDL of less than 40 mg/dL.
Cholesterol screening recommendation for adults
All adults over 20 years needed to undergo a cholesterol-screening test for every five years. If the total and HDL cholesterol levels are repeatedly normal, you can go longer between tests. If the total-cholesterol is a borderline-high and low-HDL-C level, you require more frequent testing.
People with diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or high blood pressure should always need to take the cholesterol-screening test done, no matter what their age is.
Cholesterol screening recommendation for children
For those who have the risk factors such as a family history of high cholesterol and heart attacks (before age 55 in men and before age 65 in women). Cholesterol screening should start as early as age 2 and no later than age 10. For those who are obese or having diabetes and the cholesterol levels are normal, recommend retesting for every three to five years.
Lipoprotein profile test does not need fasting
After analyzing the data from 300,000 people, Cambridge researchers found that results were accurate even if the patient had eaten before the test.
Fasting recommendation is because the body needs enough time to digest the food in the system and to clear any fatty particles in the blood. However, data from 68 long-term surveys in 21 countries suggests that this is not the case.