Celebrating International Lipoprotein(a) Awareness Day

Today is the Lp(a) Awareness Day!

Lipoprotein(a) Awareness Day is an event for raising global awareness of elevated Lipoprotein(a), also known as Lp(a). This important event was held on March 24 when supporters use the power of their voices to spread the word about Lp(a) and the importance of testing. The focus is on media outreach as well as social media engagement to draw attention to this serious condition and encourage others to join.

To mark this important international awareness and advocacy event, FH Europe held a webinar entitled “Beat the odds of an early heart attack: How to communicate Lp(a) risks to your doctor effectively”. We had five fantastic panellists – four international Lp(a) Patient Ambassadors and a medical expert – Professor Florian Kronenberg, Head of the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck.

The Patient Ambassadors shared their personal and often very emotional stories and called upon everyone to advocate for Lp(a) testing. Early diagnosis can help an affected person manage their condition and prevent serious health consequences by keeping various traditional risk factors in check.  

Professor Kronenberg provided an expert presentation on elevated Lp(a) including what exactly it is, the importance of considering other traditional risk factors, also those related to lifestyle in conjunction with Lp(a). Finally, he came up with some unconventional yet very practical ideas of how-to self-advocate for an Lp(a) test.

You can watch the recording of the webinar below

To help promote heath literacy and awareness about Lp(a), The recording can be also watched with subtitles in English and auto translated into other languages. Here is how 

FH Europe has prepared other useful resources, which will help anyone wishing to learn about elevated Lp(a), especially those recently diagnosed or suspecting to be affected.

• Support brochure for people with Lp(a) in several languages (link: https://fheurope.org/lp-a/)
• What is elevated Lp(a)? – webinar (link: https://youtu.be/tB9xN5_cyWs)
• Elevated Lp(a) – inherited CVD risk factor explained by the medical and patient experts. – webinar (link: https://youtu.be/tB9xN5_cyWs)
• Is your heart health at a serious risk? Elevated Lp(a) explained by experts. – webinar (link: https://youtu.be/-ukBVKUy6ME)

The Lipoprotein(a) Awareness Day was launched in 2022 by Family Heart Foundation in the USA.