Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] My son went for his yearly physical and was told his cholesterol was too high, 270 and white count low. He is a very active 16 yr. old. Weighs about 136 stands about 510. Hes very passionate about his sports so he doesnt put junk in his body. Im just wondering in his case if its all hereditary?
[|AI|]  His do not think you have to be worried too much about the total cholesterol of 270. I assume this value is the total cholesterol.  Although it is high, I would be more interested to know what is LDL cholesterol. Usually the LDL target is to be maintained at less than 100. Once you find the LDL value, try non-pharmacologic measures of bringing down cholesterol levels by exercise and diet. If this does not reduce you might have to start him on statin therapy (e.g.atorvastatin) after consulting a physician. I would NOT worry too much on a single isolated low WBC count. Does he frequently fall sick and develop infections? If not, I doubt the lab report and would not give too much importance to it. The low WBC count values is unrelated to cholesterol values. Familial Hypercholesterolemia is hereditary cause for high cholesterol and is due to certain genetic abnormalities. This can be confirmed only by doing certain genetic tests to look for specific mutations in certain genes. Though there is a strong possibility that this could be hereditary, id suggest you do a complete lipid profile first. An LDL greater than 190 mg % and a total cholesterol greater than 290 mg is suggestive of a hereditary cause for elevated cholesterol in young individuals. Hope this helps.