Defining Gaps in the Management of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Using Electronic Health Records in Rural General Practice

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) affects around 1:250 of the general population and, if untreated, results in premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) [1].
Only 10% of FH patients are diagnosed, with the majority undertreated, resulting in poor achievement of target LDL-C levels [1]. Most Australian general practices have around 50–100 FH patients, the majority of whom can be detected using electronic health records (EHR) [2,3]. In a previous study of rural patients with severe hypercholesterolaemia, we found 2% of 17,612 patients had cholesterol levels >7.5 mmol/L and were likely to have FH [4].