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Many people who are worried about high cholesterol have wondered whether taking home cholesterol tests is right for them. They prefer this option because it saves them a trip to their Doctor's office and they are able to get the results back right away.
However, many people are afraid that the results that are given are not accurate.
Home cholesterol tests were approved in 1993 by the FDA and were built to measure the total amount of fat levels that are in the blood. Other tests will measure the amount of HDL (high density lipoprotein) that helps to protect your heart and the LDL (low density lipoprotein) that works against your body and can help to clog up your arteries.
Researchers have done many tests and have determined that these at home tests are 95% accurate when compared to the tests from laboratories.
Yet, even with this high percentage there are other factors to take into consideration. For example the cheapest and easiest tests to use will only measure the total amount of cholesterol that is in your blood. It is important that you get an understanding of how high or low your LDL and HDL levels are - which is something that a doctor will check.
Another thing to worry about is the history of your family. A doctor will want to know any health risks that run in the family, how you eat, and how old you are to determine how they can affect your cholesterol levels.
We do not know at home how to apply these things to determine how it can affect us.
While at home cholesterol tests are more convenient for us they are not always the safest move for us. While it may afford some amount of comfort to test yourself, there is no harm in it after all, it is always wise to go see a doctor to get a more accurate reading and to better take care of any problems right away if there are any problems.
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