Enter total cholesterol, HDL and LDL and the page returns the total/HDL ratio, the LDL/HDL ratio and non-HDL, which is total cholesterol minus HDL. Pick a risk category and it also shows the gap to the non-HDL secondary goal for that category; leave it unset and all three published goals appear in a table.
Non-HDL is plain subtraction: total cholesterol minus HDL. The goals come from the ESC/EAS 2019 dyslipidaemia guideline as secondary targets, below 85 mg/dL for very high risk, 100 for high risk and 130 for moderate risk. That guideline particularly recommends assessing non-HDL in people with high triglycerides, diabetes or obesity, and in people whose LDL is very low (as of October 2026).
Cut-off values for the total/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios are not validated. This page therefore reports both ratios as numbers with no good-or-bad label, and the only target comparison it makes is against non-HDL. A non-HDL goal for low risk is not confirmed in an authoritative source, so nothing is calculated for it. Your risk category is assigned by a clinician who weighs all of your risk factors, and this page does not try to estimate it. None of this is a diagnosis; treatment decisions rest with a clinician who sees your full results.
Frequently asked questions
Because cut-off values for the total/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios are not validated. Figures for them circulate widely, but none is confirmed as an authoritative threshold, so they are not used to rule on anything here.
It is total cholesterol minus HDL, and the European dyslipidaemia guideline specifically recommends assessing it in people with high triglycerides, diabetes or obesity, and in people whose LDL is very low.
The non-HDL secondary goals are published for very high, high and moderate risk only. A goal for low risk is not confirmed in an authoritative source, so the page says so rather than filling the gap.