Cardiovascular Health Test

What is it?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that's found in all the cells in your body. Your body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. However, if you have too much cholesterol in your blood it can combine with other substances in the blood to form plaque. Plaque sticks to the walls of your arteries, which can develop into atherosclerosis and lead to cardiovascular disease.

How does it affect me?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that's found in all the cells in your body. Your body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. Cholesterol is also found in foods from animal sources, such as egg yolks, meat, and cheese

What is it?

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is a healthy type of cholesterol that helps clear unhealthy cholesterol, like LDL, out of your body. Understanding your HDL levels can help a care provider evaluate your cardiovascular health.

How does it affect me?

With HDL cholesterol, higher numbers are better, because a high HDL level can lower your risk for coronary artery disease and stroke. How high your HDL should be depends on your age and sex: 19 or younger = More than 45mg/dl, Men age 20 or older = More than 40mg/dl, Women age 20 or older = More than 50mg/dl

What is it?

LDL is an unhealthy form of cholesterol that may increase your risk of developing atherosclerosis, the most common cause of cardiovascular disease. Understanding your LDL levels can help a care provider evaluate your cardiovascular health.

How does it affect me?

If you have a high LDL level, this means that you have too much LDL cholesterol in your blood. This extra LDL, along with other substances, forms plaque. The plaque builds up in your arteries and puts you at risk of developing atherosclerosis.

What is it?

If you eat more calories than you need, your body turns the extra calories into triglycerides and stores them in your fat cells to use later. A high blood triglyceride level usually doesn't cause any symptoms, but over time it may affect your arteries and increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Understanding your triglyceride levels can help a care provider evalute your cardiovascular health.

How does it affect me?

A high blood triglyceride level usually doesn't cause any symptoms, but over time, it may affect your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Extremely high levels of triglycerides also increase the risk of acute pancreatitis in adults and children.

What is it?

ApoA-1 promotes the formation of HDL (healthy cholesterol). Low ApoA-1 may cause low HDL and put you at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Adapting healthy habits like sleeping, excercising, and eating healthy foods can improve ApoA-1 levels, but there may also be underlying gentic causes for low ApoA-1.

How does it affect me?

ApoA-1 promotes the formation of HDL (healthy cholesterol). Low ApoA-1 may cause low HDL and put you at risk of cardiovascular disease. Adapting healthy habits like sleeping, excercising, and eating healthy foods can improve ApoA-1 levels, but there may also be underlying gentic causes for low ApoA-1.

What is it?

ApoB is a protein attached to unhealthy cholesterol like LDL, VLDL, and IDL and allows these types of cholesterols into your cells. Understanding your ApoB levels can help a care provider evalute your cardiovascular health.

How does it affect me?

ApoB is a protein attached to bad cholesterol like LDL, VLDL, and IDL and allows these types of cholesterols into your cells. Elevated ApoB means you may be at risk of cardiovascular disease.

What is it?

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a test to measure inflammation in your body, which may be caused by injury, infection, chronic disease, or certain medications. In combination with the other biomarkers on this panel, it may be helpful in determining if you have inflammation associated with diabetes, prediabetes or lipid disorders.

How does it affect me?

Elevated CRP may be caused by injury, infection, or chronic disease and may increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

What is It?

Cortisol affects several aspects of your body including regulating your stress response, immune system and inflammation, blood pressure, heart rate, glucose metabolism. Cortisol levels can impact your cardiovascular health, risk for diabetes, immune system, fertility, and even cognition.

How does it affect me?

Elevated cortisol may cause a wide array of health problems including mental health issues, infertility, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. With respect to athletic performance, cortisol causes muscle breakdown and may inhibit growth factors that help build muscle.