Women & FH

In general, women are often misdiagnosed and under-treated for heart disease

Many biases exist in the healthcare system including the mistaken belief that women are more protected from heart disease due to estrogen levels. In addition, FH is commonly misunderstood as well, and standard risk calculators do not take into consideration the increased risk of FH due to lifelong high cholesterol. If untreated, FH can increase the risk of heart disease by up 20 times.

Over the course of a life treatment decisions for women can vary. Special considerations need to be made in the teenage years, again surrounding family planning in the adult years, as well as pre- and post-menopause.

This is one of the key reasons FH Europe partners with Erasmus University Medical Center and the Dutch expertise centre FH – Stichting LEEFH from the Netherlands, University of Oslo, Department of Nutrition, National Advisory Unit on FH (NKTforFH), Oslo University Hospital, from Norway, to launch officially an international survey on women and FH. The aim is to better understand how familial hypercholesterolemia (FH for short) affects women, their family planning decisions as well as health pre-, during and post pregnancy.

How to get involved:

The knowledge on women living with FH is scarce. Help us improve it for you and other women affected by inherited high cholesterol.

• Get involved by taking this survey
• Share this survey with your community
• Join our upcoming webinars to learn more
• Follow us on social media #FHWomen