How is high cholesterol diagnosed?

High cholesterol is diagnosed using a blood test. Generally, LDL isn’t measured directly, but is instead estimated using LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), which is a measure of the total amount of cholesterol contained within LDL particles and is highly correlated with LDL particle number.^[1] Blood samples can be collected in a fasted or nonfasted state.^[2] For people at low cardiovascular risk, an LDL-C goal of <116 mg/dL is recommended.^[3]