Despite 50+ years of research in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), few prior studies have evaluated health disparities, and none have included multi-ethnic cohorts. Today, the FH Foundation announced new data published in Atherosclerosis highlighting potential health disparities that contribute to the undertreatment of individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). After analyzing data from more than 3,000 U.S. adults in the CASCADE FH Registry, the investigators found that women were more undertreated than men, and Asians and Blacks were more under treated than Whites.
First-line therapy for FH patients is well established to be high-intensity statins, irrespective of age, sex or ethnicity/race. Yet, when compared to men, women were 34% less likely to receive any statin therapy, 40% less likely to be on a high-intensity statin, and 20-30% less likely to achieve adequate LDL-C reduction.
Blacks were diagnosed with FH at older ages than any other race/ethnicity. Asians and Blacks were 30-50% less likely than Whites to achieve adequate LDL-C reduction.
"Individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia are at an extremely high risk for heart disease during the prime of their lives if left untreated, and yet, they continue to be vastly under-diagnosed. The national CASACADE FH Registry demonstrates that women, Blacks and Asians living with FH are treated later and less effectively than their White male counterparts," said Katherine Wilemon, Founder and CEO of the FH Foundation. "We need to rigorously study these groups and develop evidence-based strategies to drive improved care for all individuals with this life-threatening genetic condition."
The FH Foundation would like to thank all of the CASCADE FH Registry sites, individuals with FH who participate in the registry and contribute their data, as well as the CASCADE FH sponsors. The FH Foundation established and maintains the
CASCADE FH Registry to collect comprehensive longitudinal data to address gaps in familial hypercholesterolemia diagnosis and treatment.
