Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia in specialist centres in South Africa, Australia and Brazil: Importance of early detection and lifestyle advice.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is the commonest monogenic disorder that accelerates atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. We compared and contrasted the characteristics of patients from three specialist centres in the southern hemisphere.

METHODS

Adult index-cases with molecularly diagnosed heterozygous FH attending specialist lipid centres in Cape Town, Perth and São Paulo were studied. Myocardial infarction, revascularisation, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and lipid-lowering treatment were recorded at the time of diagnosis and compared across the three centres.

RESULTS

The spectrum of genetic variants causative of FH was significantly different in patients attending the centres in South Africa compared with Australia and Brazil. Hypertension and diabetes were more prevalent in Brazilian and Australian patients, than in South African patients, but the frequency of smoking was significantly greater in South Africa than the other two centres (p<0.01). Age, male sex and smoking were significant independent predictors of coronary artery disease (CAD) in all three countries (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with FH in three specialist centres in the southern hemisphere exhibit a high prevalence of non-cholesterol cardiovascular disease risk factors. Older age, male sex and smoking were more common among subjects with CAD. In all three countries, there should be vigorous programmes for the control of risk factors beyond good control of hypercholesterolaemia among patients with FH. Promotion of a healthy lifestyle, especially anti-smoking advice, is of paramount importance.