Total Cholesterol

MeasuredEssential

All the cholesterol in your blood added together.

A blunt but useful first look at cardiovascular risk.

Calculated from this result

Once a lab has this measurement, these lines cost it nothing to add.

Part of

How we rate it: Essential

Defensible in a routine adult check-up.

This rating and the description above were written against published screening guidelines by someone who is not a clinician, and are awaiting review by one. We would rather say that than imply an authority we do not have.

Check-ups that include it

In 88 of the 93 check-ups we track, 95%. Cheapest first.

and 76 more.

Also sold as

Every one of these names refers to this same test. Resolving them to one canonical entry is what makes an honest comparison possible.

  • serum cholesterol
  • cholesterol total
  • total cholesterol

Information here is for comparing packages, not for diagnosing yourself. Talk to a doctor about which tests you actually need.