International Atherosclerosis Society Roadmap for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), a common monogenic disorder, is a preventable cause of premature coronary artery disease and death. Up to 35 million people worldwide have FH, but most remain undetected and undertreated. Several clinical guidelines have addressed the gaps in care of FH, but little focus has been given to implementation science and practice. The International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) has developed an evidence-informed guidance for the detection and management of patients with FH, supplemented with implementation strategies to optimize contextual models of care. The guidance is partitioned into detection, management and implementation sections. Detection deals with screening, diagnosis, genetic testing and counselling. Management includes risk stratification, treatment of adults and children with heterozygous and homozygous FH, management of FH during pregnancy, and use of lipoprotein apheresis. Specific and general implementation strategies, guided by processes specified by the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change taxonomy, are provided. Core generic implementation strategies are given for improving care. Nation-specific cholesterol awareness campaigns should be utilized to promote better detection of FH. Integrated models of care should be underpinned by health policy and adapted to meet local, regional and national needs. Clinical centres of excellence are important for taking referrals from the community. General practitioners should work seamlessly with multidisciplinary teams. All health-care providers must receive training in essential skills for caring for patients and families with FH. Management should be supported by shared decision-making and service improvement driven by patient-reported outcomes. Improvements in services require sharing of existing resources that can support care. Advocacy should be utilized to ensure sustainable funding. Digital health technologies and clinical quality registries have special value. Finally, academic-service partnerships need to be developed to identify gaps in care and set priorities for research. This new IAS guidance on FH complements the recent World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap.

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia in 2020: A Leading Tier 1 Genomic Application

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is caused by a major genetic defect in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) clearance pathway. Characterised by LDL-cholesterol elevation from birth, FH confers a significant risk for premature coronary artery disease (CAD) if overlooked and untreated. With risk exposure beginning at birth, early detection and intervention is crucial for the prevention of CAD. Lowering LDL-cholesterol with lifestyle and statin therapy can reduce the risk of CAD. However, most individuals with FH will not reach guideline recommended LDL-cholesterol targets. FH has an estimated prevalence of approximately 1:250 in the community. Multiple strategies are required for screening, diagnosing and treating FH. Recent publications on FH provide new data for developing models of care, including new therapies. This review provides an overview of FH and outlines some recent advances in the care of FH for the prevention of CAD in affected families. The future care of FH in Australia should be developed within the context of the National Health Genomics Policy Framework.

Health related quality of life in individuals at high risk for familial hypercholesterolemia undergoing genetic cascade screening in Brazil

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder associated with high risk of early major cardiovascular events (MACE) that can impact the health related quality of life (HRQoL), however, this association is unclear. This study evaluated HRQoL in index cases (IC) and first-degree relatives (FDR) of individuals at high risk of FH undergoing genetic cascade screening.

METHODS

Data collection was performed before awareness of molecular diagnosis results. Individuals were divided into four groups according to the molecular diagnosis: IC with (IC+) and without (IC-) identified mutations (n = 93 and n = 175, respectively), and affected (FDR+, n = 231) and non-affected (FDR-, n = 159) FDR of IC+. HRQoL measurements, mental (MCS) and physical component (PCS) scores were carried out with SF-12 questionnaire. Associations were tested by generalized linear models.

RESULTS

The mean age was 49 ± 15 years, 42.2% were men, MACE had occurred in 30.7%. Overall, both PCS and MCS did not differ between FH and non-FH individuals, however, IC trended to have lower PCS independent of FH presence (p=0.003). Lower PCS were associated with female sex (p=0.018), lower education (p<0.001), professional inactivity (p=0.028), previous MACE occurrence (p<0.001), hypertension (p=0.016), depression (p<0.001) and obesity (p<0.001). Lower MCS were associated with female sex (p=0.009), previous MACE occurrence (p=0.034), depression (p<0.001) and smoking (p=0.009). Neither the presence of FH causing mutations nor pharmacological lipid lowering treatment was associated with HRQoL.

CONCLUSIONS

HRQoL is not reduced in both IC and FDR FH individuals in comparison with their non-affected counterparts. Previous MACE and co-morbidities are associated with reduced HRQoL.