How do I know if I have abnormal cholesterol? Cholesterol abnormalities alone cause little discomfort and are not easily detected. The only way to know is through a lipid test. How do I interpret the data on a lipid test? TC: This is the abbreviation for total cholesterol. It stands for all the cholesterol in the blood. TG: This is the abbreviation for triglycerides. It stands for all triglycerides in the blood. LDL-C: This is low-density lipoprotein, which is one of the important components of blood cholesterol and is often referred to as “bad cholesterol”. HDL-C: This is high-density lipoprotein, which is also a type of cholesterol in the blood, and is often referred to as “good cholesterol”. The above data are the most important data of lipid test, among which LDL-C is the most important and worthy of attention. In clinical practice, doctors often prescribe lipid-lowering drugs without following the reference values on the test sheets. This is because a large number of recent studies have found that the starting and target values for cholesterol therapy are different for hypercholesterolemic patients with different coronary heart disease risk classifications, with the higher the risk the more aggressive the bad cholesterol lowering and the lower and more stringent the treatment target. Physicians take lipid-lowering measures based on each patient’s specific situation and refer to the recommendations of the “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Chinese Adults” to determine the lipid-lowering treatment plan. (For example, in patients who have developed coronary heart disease or who have been diagnosed with diabetes, the target value of LDL-C for lowering bad cholesterol with medication should be below 80 mg/dL.)