Lipid Panel Risk Calculator

A standard lipid panel reports total cholesterol, LDL ("bad" cholesterol), HDL ("good" cholesterol), and triglycerides, but the individual numbers only tell part of the story -- the ratios between them are also widely used as a quick screening signal, because HDL actively removes cholesterol from the bloodstream and so offsets risk from the other values. This calculator computes four such figures from your four lab values: the Total/HDL ratio and LDL/HDL ratio (both commonly cited with an optimal target under roughly 3.5 and 2.5), non-HDL cholesterol (total cholesterol minus HDL, which captures all the atherogenic particle types in one number and is used as a secondary treatment target when triglycerides are elevated), and the triglyceride/HDL ratio (a rough marker some clinicians use as a proxy for insulin resistance). It also tallies a simple point-based Risk Category from how many of your four values fall outside commonly-cited desirable ranges (total cholesterol under 200 mg/dL, LDL under 130 mg/dL, HDL at or above 40 mg/dL, triglycerides under 150 mg/dL).

This is a simplified, point-based screening tool, not a validated 10-year cardiovascular event risk calculator like the Pooled Cohort Equations or Framingham score -- those incorporate age, sex, blood pressure, smoking status, and diabetes status alongside lipids, none of which this calculator collects. Use it to understand what your ratios mean in isolation, and bring the full picture to a clinician for an actual risk assessment and treatment decision.