🧪 CBC
What it tells us: Summarizes red cells, white cells and platelets, helping assess anaemia, infection/inflammation and blood-cell abnormalities.
Important: Interpret the individual components and trends; a CBC alone does not identify the cause of an abnormal count.
🧪 Haemoglobin
What it tells us: Measures the oxygen-carrying protein in red cells and is central to detecting and grading anaemia.
Important: A low value needs a cause—such as iron deficiency, blood loss or chronic disease—not automatic iron treatment.
🧪 WBC count
What it tells us: Measures circulating white cells, which may change with infection, inflammation, stress, medicines and blood disorders.
Important: A high WBC does not automatically mean bacterial infection, and a normal count does not exclude serious infection.
🧪 Platelet count
What it tells us: Measures platelets involved in clot formation and helps assess bleeding or clotting risk.
Important: Risk depends on the count, trend, platelet function and clinical setting; an unexpected result may need confirmation.
🧪 Fasting glucose
What it tells us: Shows blood glucose after an overnight fast and helps screen for or diagnose prediabetes and diabetes.
Important: One abnormal value may need confirmation unless symptoms and glucose levels clearly establish diabetes.
🧪 Post-meal glucose
What it tells us: Shows how glucose rises after food and helps assess post-meal glucose control.
Important: Timing matters; interpret it with the meal, medicines, fasting glucose and HbA1c.
🧪 HbA1c
What it tells us: Estimates average glucose over roughly the previous 2–3 months and is used for diabetes diagnosis and monitoring.
Important: Anaemia, haemoglobin variants, recent blood loss/transfusion and some kidney conditions can make HbA1c misleading.
🧪 Creatinine
What it tells us: A blood marker used to estimate kidney filtration; rising levels may indicate reduced kidney function.
Important: Muscle mass, age and hydration affect it, so eGFR and trends are usually more informative than one value.
🧪 eGFR
What it tells us: Estimates how well the kidneys filter blood and is used to stage chronic kidney disease when reduction persists.
Important: One low result does not always mean chronic disease; urine albumin and repeat measurements add important context.
🧪 Urea / BUN
What it tells us: A nitrogen waste marker influenced by kidney function, hydration, protein intake, bleeding and catabolic illness.
Important: It is less specific for kidney function than creatinine/eGFR and should not be interpreted alone.
🧪 Sodium
What it tells us: Reflects body-water balance relative to sodium and is important for neurological and fluid assessment.
Important: Abnormal sodium can be dangerous; cause and speed of change determine treatment, and rapid correction can be harmful.
🧪 Potassium
What it tells us: An electrolyte essential for heart rhythm, nerve and muscle function.
Important: Both high and low levels can be important; unexpected abnormalities may need prompt confirmation and ECG assessment.
🧪 Total cholesterol
What it tells us: Measures cholesterol carried across several lipoproteins and contributes to cardiovascular risk assessment.
Important: Do not judge risk from total cholesterol alone; LDL and the person’s overall cardiovascular risk matter more.
🧪 LDL cholesterol
What it tells us: A major atherosclerotic cholesterol measure and key treatment target for preventing heart attack and stroke.
Important: The desirable level depends on overall risk; people with established cardiovascular disease often need much lower LDL.
🧪 HDL cholesterol
What it tells us: Measures cholesterol carried in HDL particles and contributes to cardiovascular risk estimation.
Important: A high HDL does not cancel risk from high LDL, smoking, diabetes or hypertension.
🧪 Triglycerides
What it tells us: Measures circulating fats influenced by diet, alcohol, diabetes, obesity and genetics.
Important: Very high levels can increase pancreatitis risk; fasting status and secondary causes may need consideration.
🧪 TSH
What it tells us: The main screening test for thyroid function, reflecting the pituitary response to circulating thyroid hormone.
Important: Interpret it with free T4, symptoms, pregnancy status and thyroid medicines when relevant.
🧪 Free T4
What it tells us: Measures unbound thyroxine available to tissues and helps clarify abnormal TSH results.
Important: TSH and free T4 together are generally more informative than either result alone.
🧪 ALT / SGPT
What it tells us: A liver-cell enzyme that may rise with fatty liver, hepatitis, medicines and other liver injuries.
Important: ALT indicates cell injury rather than liver function, and the height of elevation does not always equal severity.
🧪 AST / SGOT
What it tells us: An enzyme found in liver, muscle and other tissues that may rise with liver or muscle injury.
Important: AST is not liver-specific and should be interpreted with ALT, history and other tests.
🧪 Bilirubin
What it tells us: A pigment from red-cell breakdown processed by the liver; elevation may cause jaundice.
Important: Direct/indirect fractions plus other liver tests help distinguish haemolysis, liver disease and bile obstruction.
🧪 Albumin
What it tells us: A major liver-made protein involved in fluid balance and affected by nutrition, inflammation and organ disease.
Important: Low albumin is not specific for liver disease; kidney loss, gut loss and inflammation can also lower it.
🧪 CRP
What it tells us: A protein that rises with inflammation and can help follow the intensity or trend of an inflammatory process.
Important: It does not identify the cause or location and cannot alone distinguish bacterial from viral infection.
🧪 ESR
What it tells us: A nonspecific inflammatory marker also influenced by age, anaemia, pregnancy and other factors.
Important: It changes relatively slowly and should be interpreted with symptoms and other tests.
🧪 Uric acid
What it tells us: Measures urate and can support assessment of gout or uric-acid stone risk.
Important: A high level alone does not prove gout, and urate can be normal during an acute attack.
🧪 Vitamin D
What it tells us: Usually measures 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the main blood marker of vitamin D status.
Important: Testing is most useful when deficiency risk or a clinical indication exists; supplementation should be individualized.
🧪 Vitamin B12
What it tells us: Assesses B12 status, relevant to certain anaemias and neurological symptoms.
Important: Borderline values may need clinical correlation or additional testing; neurological deficiency can occur without severe anaemia.
🧪 Urine routine / microscopy
What it tells us: Checks urine for cells, protein, glucose and other findings that can suggest urinary, kidney or metabolic problems.
Important: Sample quality matters; a single abnormality may be contamination or transient and should be interpreted with symptoms.
🧪 Urine ACR
What it tells us: Detects small amounts of albumin in urine and is important in kidney-risk assessment, especially with diabetes or hypertension.
Important: Persistent elevation is more meaningful than one sample and also signals increased cardiovascular risk.
🧪 Urine culture
What it tells us: Identifies organisms growing from urine and can guide antibiotic selection when UTI is suspected.
Important: Collect correctly and preferably before antibiotics; bacterial growth without symptoms does not always require treatment.
🧪 PT/INR
What it tells us: Assesses part of the clotting pathway and is used especially to monitor warfarin and evaluate selected bleeding/liver problems.
Important: The target INR depends on why warfarin is prescribed; abnormal results outside that setting require clinical interpretation.
🧪 aPTT
What it tells us: Assesses another clotting pathway and is used in selected bleeding evaluations and monitoring some forms of heparin.
Important: A prolonged result has several possible causes and does not automatically mean the patient will bleed.
🧪 Troponin
What it tells us: A heart-muscle protein released with myocardial injury and a key test when acute coronary syndrome is suspected.
Important: Elevation means heart-muscle injury, not automatically a heart attack; symptoms, ECG and serial change establish context.
🧪 D-dimer
What it tells us: A clot-breakdown marker mainly useful to help rule out venous thrombosis in appropriately selected low-risk patients.
Important: It is nonspecific and can rise with age, infection, pregnancy, cancer and many illnesses; a positive result does not prove a clot.
🧪 Ferritin
What it tells us: Reflects body iron stores and is a key test for iron deficiency.
Important: Ferritin also rises with inflammation, so a normal/high value may not exclude iron deficiency in an inflamed patient.
🧪 Serum iron / TIBC
What it tells us: Provides information about circulating iron and iron-binding capacity, often summarized as transferrin saturation.
Important: Serum iron fluctuates and should be interpreted with ferritin, CBC and the clinical picture.
🧪 HBsAg
What it tells us: Detects hepatitis B surface antigen and, when positive, indicates current hepatitis B infection.
Important: Further tests such as anti-HBc, HBeAg and HBV DNA may be needed to define phase and treatment considerations.
🧪 Anti-HCV antibody
What it tells us: Shows whether the immune system has ever been exposed to hepatitis C virus.
Important: A positive antibody does not prove current infection; HCV RNA is needed to confirm active infection.
🧪 HIV Ag/Ab test
What it tells us: A fourth-generation screening test detecting HIV p24 antigen and antibodies, allowing relatively early detection.
Important: A reactive screen requires confirmation; very recent exposure may require repeat testing according to the window period.
🧪 Stool occult blood / FIT
What it tells us: Detects small amounts of blood in stool and is commonly used for colorectal cancer screening.
Important: A positive test does not diagnose cancer and usually needs further evaluation; a negative test does not explain every bowel symptom.