High cholesterol will affect 400 thousand Mexicans

High cholesterol will affect 400 thousand Mexicans

CITY MEXICO (Notimex). – Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) can be the cause of myocardial infarction or cerebral vascular events (emboli) in young people, warns the Association of Heart Patients (Paco).

He pointed out that it was a genetic disease associated with very high cholesterol levels and a high risk for cardiac or cerebrovascular events before age 55 in women and before 60 in men.

It is estimated that one in every 250 adults presents it and there are around 14 million patients in the world, where at least 400,000 patients are in Mexico.

This is an undiagnosed condition, so the actual number of patients may be higher. This is a condition inherited from parents to children on autosomal basis, which is enough to receive an abnormal gene from one parent to have it.

The descent of someone with heart failure has a 50% chance of being born with this disease, and without treatment there is a high risk of infarction or stroke at an early age.

With laboratory tests and physical examinations a diagnosis can be made, because the disease usually shows no symptoms, although according to the notes from "El Universal", small fat balls in the hands, feet and heels can be a sign of bad cholesterol, and a clear headband in the eyes.

The Paco Association urges doctors to be aware of the possibility of this condition in children and adolescents, and to register the cases at the electronic address https://fhmexico.org.mx/login.php to include them in the Familiar Hypercholesterolemia Mexican Registry