Question

[AllenD]

I'm due for a cholesterol test in a few days. For the past 2 weeks I've had a virus giving me a fever of around 101 and constant coughing. I've also lost perhaps 10 pounds. Will the virus I've had, and will most likely still have when I'm tested, affect my results in any way?

[CobaltBlue]

Originally Posted by AllenD

I'm due for a cholesterol test in a few days. For the past 2 weeks I've had a virus giving me a fever of around 101 and constant coughing. I've also lost perhaps 10 pounds. Will the virus I've had, and will most likely still have when I'm tested, affect my results in any way?

AllenD:

I doubt the virus itself will affect your lipids. What may come into play is the reduction in food intake, or change in diet, that came with you feeling ill. Also, the drop in 10 lbs may alter your values slightly. Hope you feel better!

[AllenD]

Thank you, Uber.

[zip2play]

I'm going to dasagree with Ubie on this one. I think any infection so mobilizes the body that EVERYTHING goes out of whack. I wouldn't trust any blood readings at such a time.
Certainly any of the markers looking for inflammation like homocysteine and C-Reactive protein are apt to be highly untrustworthy.

Sort of akin to race walking to the doctor's office to measure blood pressure. What you want is a reading at steady-state condition and an infection puts a LOT of stress on the body, causing the body to go to all sorts of extremes (like a dangerous temperature rise) all with the goal of stopping an infection from becoming fatal (most will kill if unstemmed.) This is anything but "steady-state."

Who knows, maybe a high LDL is detrimental to viral growth...or vice versa? Maybe triglycerides choke off bacteria that are looking for glucose? So many imponderables.

[CobaltBlue]

Originally Posted by zip2play

I'm going to dasagree with Ubie on this one. I think any infection so mobilizes the body that EVERYTHING goes out of whack. I wouldn't trust any blood readings at such a time.
Certainly any of the markers looking for inflammation like homocysteine and C-Reactive protein are apt to be highly untrustworthy.

What Zip said does make sense, with respect to inflammation, if you have a hs-CRP done...but when I did a quick search for viral effects on serum cholesterol, there were only a few studies, and no correlation between changes in traditional serum cholesterol markers with respect to presence of virus/antibodies.

I have no guesses about whether or not it would impact the homocysteine value...?

In edit: There probably are not enough studies out there to really say one way or another. I have heard anecdotes that cholesterol levels drop way low in the terminally ill. Then again, is the cause the illness, or the substantial weight loss and other detriment to the physical system, which is a result of the illness? If you are concerned, you can always postpone the lab test. Whats funny (in a strange way) is I am the type of person who would probably go in there now and repeat it in a week or two, just to experiment on myself. Sad...but true