Detection and care of familial hypercholesterolaemia in the community: is there a role for the pharmacist?

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a dominantly inherited disorder present from birth that causes marked elevation in plasma cholesterol and premature coronary heart disease. It is estimated that there are at 40 million people with FH worldwide, but most remain unrecognised and inadequately treated. To bridge this gap in coronary prevention several guidelines on detecting and managing FH have been published. We briefly review these and comment on the potential role of pharmacists in case detection, point-of-care testing and pharmacotherapy.