Cheshire and Merseyside Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Service (C&MFHS)

This Cheshire and Merseyside Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Service helps people who might have a condition called Familial Hypercholesterolemia, or FH for short. FH is a health problem that can cause very high cholesterol and may run in families.

The service is run by LHCH, but it is for people living anywhere in Cheshire and Merseyside. You can find out more on the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS website.

Your doctor, nurse or pharmacist can send a referral to this service if they think you meet the right criteria. If you're referred, you’ll be invited to an appointment where you can talk more about FH with one of the nurses. It will allow us to decide whether a genetic test might help.

A genetic test for FH is complicated and expensive. Because of this, there are rules about who can have the test. Only people who are quite likely to have FH will be offered one.

The test can help us find out for sure if you have FH. Or, it might help show that FH is probably not the reason for your high cholesterol.

"Familial" means something that can be passed down from parents to their children. "Hypercholesterolemia" means having too much cholesterol in the blood.

People with FH have extremely high cholesterol levels. About 1 in every 250 people in the UK may have FH, but many don’t know they have it yet. The NHS wants to help find more people and families with FH.

If FH is not treated, it can lead to serious cardiovascular disease at a very young age. This happens because having a high cholesterol causes a build-up of a fatty material (atheroma) in arteries. Arteries are the tubes that carry blood around your body. A build-up of atheroma means arteries gradually become narrower. This can then lead to conditions such as angina, heart attacks, or strokes.

Without treatment:

About half of men with FH will get cardiovascular disease by the age of 50.
About 3 in 10 women with FH will get cardiovascular disease by the age of 60.

Finding out if someone has FH means they can make healthier choices and start treatment to lower their cholesterol. Lowering cholesterol helps prevent or delay heart problems in people with FH.

To check if someone has FH, a DNA sample is needed. This can be taken from blood, spit (saliva), or a cheek swab. A blood sample is best because it gives the highest quality DNA for analysis. Once the sample is taken, it is sent to a special lab for testing. The test is quite detailed, so it can take 8 to 10 weeks to get the results.

If you get tested, and if the test shows that you have FH, it’s a good idea for close family members – like your parents, brothers, sisters, or children – to get tested too. FH can be passed down in families.

Testing for children is offered from age 8, and treatment can start from age 10. Family members who qualify can give a saliva sample and do their appointment by phone or video call. If they live in Cheshire or Merseyside, they can contact the FH service themselves to get started.

Cheshire and Merseyside Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Service (C&MFHS)

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia

Testing for FH

Treatment

Further Reading