Total Cholesterol
Cholesterol
- Sample
- Blood
- Usual units
- mg/dL
- Fasting
- Usually done fasting. Follow the fasting instructions your lab or doctor gives you.
Also known as Cholesterol · Cholesterol Total · Serum Cholesterol · TC
What this test measures
Total cholesterol is the combined amount of cholesterol carried across the main lipoprotein particles in blood — LDL, HDL, and VLDL together. A lab measures it alongside the individual particle readings because the combined number and the breakdown tell different parts of the same story. It is usually reported in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).
Reading your report
There isn’t one standard range for this test — each lab prints its own. Use the range shown next to your result.
Total Cholesterol unit converter
Convert Total Cholesterol units
Labs print this test in mg/dL or mmol/L depending on where the sample was run.
Related guides
- Guide
Why the same blood test has different "normal" ranges at different labs
Reference intervals are built from each lab's own population and equipment, which is why two labs can print different ranges for the same sample.
- Guide
Reference interval, cutoff, and the "optimal" numbers online: three different things
The range beside your result, the target a website quotes, and the threshold that defines a condition are built in different ways and answer different questions.
- Guide
Why the same lab printed a different reference range for you this year
Ranges are not fixed constants. The lab can change method, revise its reference group, or apply a range that depends on your age — none of which is an error.
- Guide
Why your report says "fasting required", and what changes when it isn't
Which tests ask you to fast, for how long, and what eating beforehand does to the numbers — plus why a report often prints whether you fasted.
- Guide
mg/dL and mmol/L: why the same result is printed two different ways
Two unit systems are in routine use, and a marker's number changes completely between them. How to tell which one you are holding, and why you cannot compare across them by eye.
- Guide
Panels, profiles and packages: what you actually paid for
A panel is a bundle of individual tests sold under one name, and the names are not standardised. How to work out what a package included — and what it left out.