A potentially life-saving discovery is coming to the medical sphere. Researchers are confirming that regular testing for cholesterol can prevent fatality after a certain age. Cholesterol is of two kinds – hypercholesterolemia & cholesterol with elevated triglyceride levels.
Now, both of these variants can be genetic; hypercholesterolemia can lead to serious health issues like inactivity of the body, obesity, and heart problems.
Unfortunately, triglyceride, the other variant, is known as the ‘bad’ cholesterol mostly because someone cannot cure it with a simple diet change.
One in 250 people suffer from hypercholesterolemia. Considering today’s world population, that is quite a huge number. The reason why one should diagnose this condition early on is because there are medicinal routines that can help.
“Two highly effective classes of medication in the USA are PCSK9 inhibitors & Statins.” Dr. Cheng-Han Chen is the medical director of the Structural Heart Program at a medical center in California (Memorial Care Saddleback).
However, before one can prescribe patients the medication, knowing the hypercholesterolemia history of their family is important. Or so said by the researchers of Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City.
“We should start with testing untreated high cholesterol in adults through genetic testing. Once patients get their final test, aggressively treating them with the help of medication will help relieve them from future cardiovascular problems.
Cutting through the risk factors is also a way to do the same.” As explained by Stacey Knight, PhD cardiovascular and genetic epidemiologist at Intermountain Health. (Source)
Conducting Of The Research
They announced that 157 individuals among the participants exhibited a variation in the LDLR gene linked to familial hypercholesterolemia.
Subsequently, the researchers categorized individuals with the familial hypercholesterolemia gene into three cohorts: those without a previous diagnosis, those diagnosed following a significant cardiovascular event like a heart attack, hospitalization for heart failure, stroke, peripheral artery disease, or carotid artery disease, and those diagnosed before experiencing any cardiac event.
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