Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a hereditary condition. People with FH have high levels of LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) in their blood from birth. This often happens even if you eat healthily and get enough exercise.

In FH, a gene does not function properly. As a result, the liver is less effective at removing LDL cholesterol from the blood. The LDL can then accumulate in the blood vessels. This increases the risk of cardiovascular disease at a young age, such as arteriosclerosis and heart attack.

There are two types:

• Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH)
• Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH)