Health Update

by Tyrone M. Reyes, M.D.

You don’t have to be a doctor to ferret out the clues to your cardiovascular well-being in lab tests of your blood. Growing numbers of people are doing it. More and more patients want to have complete copies of their lab results. hey want to see the raw data, and if a number is out of the normal range, they circle it and want to know why. That’s good and not-so-good news.

• Good news: Taking an interest in your numbers means you’re more likely to excel in self-care. With further input from your physician, the numbers can suggest new treatments or preventive steps. Sometimes, patients spot trends in lab findings that their doctors miss.

• Not-so-good news: Some people worry too much because they put excessive credence in one result that’s slightly out of the normal range.

Some Results Are Flatly Wrong

On average, “If you order 20 lab tests for the same person, one of them will come back abnormal,” says cardiologist Richard Krasuski, MD, of Cleveland Clinic. “That’s because of normal variation or lab errors, not because you have something to worry about. And most lab data require some interpretation from your doctor based on such factors as your age, gender or body composition.

Take for example, creatinine, a muscle breakdown product. It’s cleared out of the kidneys. So, a creatinine buildup in the blood can be a sign that your kidneys aren’t working well. And kidney dysfunction is one of the strongest risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But judging the risk strictly on the basis of raw numbers could be wrong. For example, a small older woman with a creatinine of 1.3 mg/dL may be at greater risk than a hefty man with a level of 1.4 mg/dL because of the woman’s slight build and gender even though her lab reading is lower. What does it mean to you? Rely on your doctor to put your lab results in context so you can get a more accurate picture of your health.

Learning what a few tests in your lab works mean is a good way to reduce blood-test anxiety and take greater control over your heart’s health. Here’s a simple guide to seven important blood test results.

Look For Clues In Your Report

• Total cholesterol is the number you’re most likely to remember. Celebrate when it’s down (lower than 200 mg/dL) or lament when it’s up (higher than 200 mg/dL). It’s useful as a shorthand overview of cholesterol, the fat-like substance in foods such as meat, eggs, poultry, and dairy products. At high levels, cholesterol can raise the threat of a heart attack. But your physician is more likely to pay attention to other more revealing numbers (particularly LDL) that contribute to total cholesterol. Here’s why. (more…)