[Is familial hypercholesterolemia under control in the Czech Republic?]

In 1997, the Czech Republic joined the international project MedPed (Make early diagnosis to Prevent early deaths), the principal objective of which is to dramatically reduce the number of deaths caused by the premature clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Stress has been laid on a timely diagnosis, especially in family members of patients who have already been diagnosed with the disease, and on timely application of adequate hypolipidemic therapy. A network of centres dealing with severe inborn dyslipidemias has been set up under the auspices of the Czech Society for Atherosclerosis. As many as 3,208 cases of dyslipidemia from 2377 families have been detected thanks to the network and to the contribution of cooperating doctors; this represents 16% of the estimated number of 20,000 patients with FH in this country. However, the disease is far from being under control in the Czech Republic. The principal objective for the immediate future is to dramatically increase the number of people screened within affected families; thus multiplying the current rate of diagnosed and treated patients with FH within each family from its current value of 1.3.