What would be your cholesterol (LDL) level if you were not taking lipid-lowering medications?

Cholesterol adjustment factors (specific for each medication and dose) can be used to estimate an adult patient's cholesterol concentration before being treated with lipid-lowering medication.

How to calculate:

Actual measurement

x

cholesterol adjustment factor for medication/dose

For example, if your LDL-C is 4 mmol/L and you are on Atorvastatin 40 mg, your adjusted LDL-C is 4 x 2 = 8 mmol/L. Here, 2 is the adjustment factor for Atorvastatin 40 mg.

The adjustment factors can vary significantly based on the specific medication used, the individual patient's metabolism and reaction to the drug, and other health and lifestyle factors. Furthermore, these adjustment factors and estimates can't provide an exact number for the pre-treatment cholesterol level - they can only give an approximation.