Early detection of young adults from families with inherited high cholesterol to prevent premature unnecessary fatal/non-fatal myocardial infarction.
Projectomschrijving
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Samenvatting van de aanvraag
Inherited high cholesterol (IHC) causes early development of multi-plaques, mostly in coronary
arteries, which are characterized by a high level of instability. Without medical treatment, one in two
patients will have premature fatal/non-fatal myocardial infarction (average age 40-50). About one in
three people die instantly at first infarction. This can effectively be prevented with a healthy lifestyle
in combination with medication, resulting in gains of 10 to 25 completely healthy years. The earlier
treated, the higher the benefit. A total of 135.000 people in the Netherlands suffer from this inherited
disorder, of whom about 100.000 are unaware of their risk. The disease has no noticible
consequences until first infarction strikes. IHC is clustered in family trees, which have in common to
be disproportionally often struck by premature myocardial infarction, from early twenties onwards.
This denominator is crucial in the bottom-up approach of this early detection programme. A
qualitative pilot study indicated a high level of latent risk awareness among young adults, who
however avoid diagnosis because they don't have a sense of urgency and/or misconceive the needed
change of lifestyle. The proposed programme offers an intervention to stimulate early detection and
prevention, for which clear goals are set. A sophisticated research programme will measure and
evaluate effective change in attitude and behaviour as result of this approach.