A recent audit carried out by the Royal College of Physicians in the UK reveals that thousands of patients have not been screened for a type of preventable heart disease. The details of 2,500 patients who suffered from familial hypercholesterolaemia were looked at and it was found that a very small number of their relations were screened.
Statistics suggest that one in every five hundred British people have what is known as familial hypercholesterolaemia, a type of condition that increases the amount of LDL (bad cholesterol) in the blood. Those who have the condition and who are not diagnosed or treated are in serious danger. A third of women who have it and who do not get treated will develop heart disease by the time they are 60 and one half of men who have it will develop heart disease before they are 55.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence suggests that family members of those who suffer from the condition should have a mandatory DNA and cholesterol test however many hospitals are not taking this advice. Only fifteen per cent of hospital trusts had funded DNA testing available. It is therefore estimated that 100,000 people with this genetic predisposition would not even be diagnosed.
Despite the fact that this type of testing would be of long term financial benefit to the NHS it is not yet part of the budget among individual trusts. The testing, if provided now, could save lives in the next ten to fifteen years.