The Home Cholesterol Monitor. Sounds like a useful tool to have hanging around, until you get to the part where it says – ‘shows results from a single drop of blood (lancet included)’ – at which point I lose interest completely. Funny that. $129.95.
Unit shows average cholesterol across the last six test measurements taken. You can also download results to your PC (software and serial cable included), where you can create an entire database of cholesterol readings, and receive valuable information about your cardiovascular health. An optional Smart-Card…stores up to 200 test results that can be shared with your physician.
How often do people expect to use this thing? Do the cost per test, and the medical neccesity warrant this? Although people have become used to portable glucose level tests for diabetic, glucose levels fluctuate minute to minutes, whereas cholesterol levels fluctuate week to week.
You should note that a pack of 6 extra test strips is 20$.
The current Canadian recommendation is that all men over age 40; women who are post-menopausal or older than 50 years old; or if you have any risk factors for cardiovascular disease regardless of age, should have one fasting cholesterol level done. The frequency for further testing depends on the initial results and your cardiovascular risk. When medication therapy is started, and whenever the amount of medication is adjusted levels should be checked again in six weeks.. Afterwards, it may be repeated every six to twelve months.
National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health,(of the USA) indicates that everyone over age 20 should have their cholesterol measured at least once every five years.