If you have your current cholesterol numbers, take the total cholesterol and divide it by your HDL cholesterol. That’s considered your total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL) ratio. While a high HDL is considered good for your heart health, a low HDL isn’t. Therefore, you might wonder if it means that a low TC/HDL ratio is good. Interestingly, the answer is yes, but not totally, according to a 2022 article in Frontiers in Endocrinology.
The study looked at the TC/HDL ratios of more than 30,000 people with an average age of 43 and normal blood pressure. People whose TC/HDL ratios were 5.07 or above had a 26% higher risk of all-cause mortality. Those whose TC/HDL ratios were 4.22 or higher had a 13% greater risk of cardiovascular mortality. However, those with a higher HDL, which calculated a lower TC/HDL ratio, also had a significantly greater risk of all-cause mortality. Meanwhile, people whose TC/HDL ratio was 2.86 or below had an 18% higher risk of early death.
