What Is Dyslipidemia?

Dr. Roger Blumenthal answers the question: 'What Is Dyslipidemia?'

By
Roger Blumenthal, M.D., Director, The Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease; The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
May 2, 2008, 2:27 PM ET
1 min read

— -- Question: What Is Dyslipidemia?

Answer: Dyslipidemia refers to an abnormal cholesterol profile. It can represent either a low HDL -- HDL is the good cholesterol, the high-density lipoproteins -- it may represent a high LDL cholesterol -- LDL is the bad cholesterol, the low-density lipoprotein -- or may represent an elevated triglycerides level, which is the blood fat level.

So dyslipidemia really just refers to an abnormality in at least one of the main cholesterol fractions -- either the good HDL, either the bad LDL, or the triglycerides, or there may be multiple abnormalities that can comprise a dyslipidemia.

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