On 6th October 2023, FH Europe Foundation Community Engagement Manager, Emma Print, was invited to speak at the Italian Ministry of Health as part of AISC’s 9th Annual Congress. The topic was “FH - What is the Real and Undetected Issue? How can we Raise Awareness?”
Emma spoke to an audience of 250 patients and healthcare professionals, highlighting that cardiovascular diseases are the no.1 cause for death globally and in Europe. 1 person in 16 people diagnosed with coronary artery disease have FH.
Globally 1 person in 250-300 people have FH and yet 90% of those don’t know it!
Emma then extrapolated the data to make it more relevant for the Italian audience, illustrating that approximately 196,000 people in Italy will have FH (based on population data from 3rd Oct 2023).
She highlighted the impact FH (especially undiagnosed and untreated FH) can have on the family, and how we at FH Europe Foundation are advocating for change with a focus on FH paediatric screening, building on this with a high level technical meeting under the Slovenian Presidency in 2020, and then with the Prague Declaration in 2022.
The key takeaway message for the audience was to ‘know your numbers’. If anyone has high levels of cholesterol and/or a family history of early heart disease, it is essential to be checked for FH. You may save your own life and those of your family.
FH Europe Foundation would like to thank Professor Salvatore Di Somma and AISC for this opportunity, and Professor Francesco Fedele for translating.