Total cholesterol compared with HDL cholesterol
Biomarker library
Heart Health
Total cholesterol / HDL cholesterol ratio
This ratio divides your total cholesterol by your HDL: one number that weighs the cholesterol heading into your arteries against the cholesterol heading home.
Measured in your health assessment, with a doctor to explain your result. Book yours
Why it matters
It predicts heart risk better than total cholesterol alone, which is why the UK's QRISK3 calculator uses it. A ratio below 4 is generally considered desirable, and lower is better.
What a result can mean
Lower than the range
A low ratio is favourable: plenty of HDL relative to the cholesterol that can build up in arteries.
Higher than the range
A higher ratio comes from high LDL, low HDL or both, and is common with insulin resistance, smoking and inactivity.
What can help
Anything that lowers LDL and triglycerides or raises HDL improves the ratio: more activity, less saturated fat and sugar, weight loss and not smoking. Doctors combine it with blood pressure, age and other factors to estimate your 10-year risk and decide on treatment.
Read it with
NoteGeneral educational illustration. Colours, sizes and movement are simplified. This is not a scan or a simulation of your body. General information, not personal medical advice: a doctor reads your own results with your history.
Know your total cholesterol / HDL cholesterol ratio.
Measured in your health assessment and explained by the doctor who reviews your results.