Standard Lipid Panel (Total Cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, Triglycerides)
The oldest test on this page and still the one that earns its place most easily. Four numbers from a single draw: total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and triglycerides. LDL particles deposit cholesterol in arterial walls and initiate atherosclerosis; triglycerides mark remnant-lipoprotein and metabolic burden; HDL-C is an imperfect proxy for reverse cholesterol transport. Fasting was traditionally preferred, though non-fasting samples are now accepted by many guidelines.
Decades of randomised evidence — statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors — confirm that lowering LDL-C reduces myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular death, with a clear dose-response relationship demonstrated across trials by the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration. No other test on this site rests on a comparable body of outcome data.