September is National Cholesterol Education Month and many of us know someone who suffers from heart disease. We may know someone who has suffered a heart attack or even heart failure. Sometimes heart disease may be “silent” and not diagnosed until a person experiences signs or experiences a heart attack, heart failure, or arrhythmia.
High cholesterol is a serious condition that affects over 65 million Americans.
Cholesterol travels through the blood on proteins called “lipoproteins.” Two types of lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout the body:
- LDL (low-density lipoprotein), sometimes called “bad” cholesterol, makes up most of your body’s cholesterol. High levels of LDL cholesterol raise your risk for heart disease and stroke.
- HDL (high-density lipoprotein), or “good” cholesterol, absorbs cholesterol and carries it back to the liver. The liver then flushes it from the body. High levels of HDL cholesterol can lower your risk for heart disease and stroke.
When your body has too much LDL cholesterol, the LDL cholesterol can build up on the walls of your blood vessels. It raises the risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death, and for stroke, the fifth leading cause of death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Meridien Research, 71 million Americans live with high low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and fewer than half get treatment. This may be because they have no symptoms and are unaware.
Because high cholesterol can easily go undetected, BioIQ has developed an at-home Heart Health Panel to help identify increased risk for these dangerous heart conditions. The benefit is that it is done from the comfort and convenience of home. This comprehensive panel can help identify unseen risks, giving you a better picture of your overall heart health.
BioIQ’s Heart Health panel consists of three tests: A1c, Lipid Panel, and Highly Sensitive C Reactive Protein (HS-CRP).
- The Hemoglobin A1c test is used to measure a person’s average blood sugar over the past 3 months. Elevated levels are associated with higher blood sugar levels and can be used to screen for pre-diabetes and diabetes.
- The Lipid Panel tests blood fats like cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides and can be used to determine risk for heart attacks and stroke.
- The HS-CRP test measures C-Reactive protein (CRP) and aids in evaluation of stress, trauma, infection, and inflammation.
BioIQ is changing the way health measurement works, by making health diagnostic testing more affordable and accessible for employers, health plans and government agencies. This is done by creating more insight for people and more touch points with health service partners.
For information about our Heart Health Panel and how BioIQ can partner with you, click here.