Detection of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia: A Major Treatment Gap in Preventative Cardiology
Received 26 March 2007; received in revised form 12 May 2007; accepted 6 June 2007.
Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common genetic disorder that untreated has an almost one hundredfold risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). In an audit of 334 patients with premature CAD admitted to a Department of Cardiology, only 60% of medical records had sufficient clinical information for identifying FH. Of those with sufficient information recorded, 54% of patients had possible to definite FH on recognised clinical criteria. Amongst those with FH, only 38% were on statin therapy and only 22% were treated to National Heart Foundation targets. Detection and treatment of FH represents a major gap in coronary prevention.
aLipid Disorders Clinic and Department of Internal Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital, GPO Box X2213, Perth, Western Australia 6847, Australia
bDepartment of Core Clinical Pathology and Biochemistry, PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA, Royal Perth Hospital, GPO Box X2213, Perth, Western Australia 6847, Australia
cSchool of Surgery and Pathology, University of Western Australia, MRF Building, 50 Murray Street, Level 4, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia
dCardiovascular Genetics Laboratory, Division of Laboratory Medicine, PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA, Royal Perth Hospital, GPO Box X2213, Perth, Western Australia 6847, Australia
eSchool of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, MRF Building, 50 Murray Street, Level 4, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia
fDepartment of Cardiology, Royal Perth Hospital, GPO Box X2213, Perth, Western Australia 6847, Australia
Corresponding author at: Lipid Disorders Clinic, Royal Perth Hospital, GPO Box X2213, Perth, Western Australia 6847, Australia. Tel.: +61 8 9224 0245; fax: +61 8 9224 0246.
ABSTRACT