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About this tool
Calculate lipid panel risk assessment, LDL/HDL ratios, and cardiovascular risk from cholesterol levels with NCEP ATP III guidelines.
Lipid Risk Calculator converts four lab values — total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides in mg/dL — into the derived figures a lipid panel is usually judged on: the TC/HDL ratio (desirable under 5.0), the LDL/HDL ratio (desirable under 3.0), non-HDL cholesterol, and a 0–10 composite score that adds points for each value outside its NCEP ATP III band. It is for anyone holding a printout of numbers with no interpretation attached and wanting to see where each one falls. The output is educational; what to do about it is a conversation with your doctor.
Open Lipid Risk Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter Total Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol (Bad), HDL Cholesterol (Good) and Triglycerides in mg/dL - each field prints its cut-off, such as 'Desirable: < 200 mg/dL'.
Press Analyze Lipids; the run is blocked with a warning if HDL is entered higher than total cholesterol.
Read the Overall Lipid Risk score out of 10, the TC/HDL and LDL/HDL gauges, non-HDL and the NCEP ATP III Classifications band for each value, then press Copy Report or Download for a Lipid_Report_<TC>TC.txt file.
TC/HDL and LDL/HDL appear on a gauge with the desirable thresholds of 5.0 and 3.0 marked, so the number arrives with its own context.
The composite adds points for total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides and the LDL/HDL ratio, capped at 10, so a single mildly-off value does not read the same as four.
The full ATP III cut-points are printed in the exported report, so you can see exactly which boundary put a value in its band.
A TC/HDL ratio below 5.0 is generally described as desirable and an LDL/HDL ratio below 3.0 likewise; lower is better in both cases. The gauges here turn amber above 4 and red above 5, which is where the score starts adding points.
Under 150 mg/dL is normal, 150–199 borderline high, 200–499 high, and 500 mg/dL or above very high — the level at which pancreatitis risk, not just cardiovascular risk, becomes a concern. Triglycerides are strongly affected by recent food and alcohol, so a non-fasting sample can read misleadingly high.
Points are added for each abnormal value: up to 2 for total cholesterol above 200 or 240, up to 2 for HDL under 50 or 40, up to 3 for LDL above 130, 160 or 190, up to 3 for triglycerides above 150, 200 or 500, and up to 2 for an LDL/HDL ratio above 4 or 5, capped at 10. It is a simple additive summary of your panel, not a validated 10-year event risk equation like the Pooled Cohort or Framingham scores.
No. This tool only classifies numbers against published thresholds; prescribing decisions depend on your overall cardiovascular risk, age, family history, other conditions and current medication. Bring the numbers to a clinician and let them decide.
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