Physicians and Cardiologists – do you think that Total Cholesterol (TC) is a better risk marker than TC/HDL?

I've been monitoring my serum cholesterol levels for some time now. I find that Physicians like to focus on the Total Cholesterol number while sometimes ignoring the HDL numbers – which are obviously atheroprotective – and thus reduce CHD risk. There's been a lot of work done (Framingham Study, etc.) which show that the Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio correlates better with CHD risk than Total Cholesterol alone. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks

TC/HDL ratio is a much better predictor than TC alone. If you have access to a specialist lab apoB/apoA ratio is probably the best lipid prognostic marker.