title: ScreenPro FH - Screening Project for Familial Hypercholesterolemia in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe: Basic Epidemiology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite great recent progress, familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is still underestimated, under-diagnosed and thus undertreated worldwide. We have very little information on exact prevalence of patients with FH in the Central, Eastern and Southern Europe (CESE) region. The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiological situation in the CESE region from data available.
  
  
  METHODS
  All local leaders of the ScreenPro FH project were asked to provide local data on (a) expert guess of FH prevalence (b) the medical facilities focused on FH already in place (c) the diagnostic criteria used (d) the number of patients already evidenced in local database and (e) the availability of therapeutic options (especially plasma apheresis).
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the guess prevalence of FH around 1 : 500, we estimate the overall population of 588 363 FH heterozygotes in the CESE region. Only 14 108 persons (2.4 %) were depicted in local databases; but the depiction rate varied between 0.1 % and 31.6 %. Only four out of 17 participating countries reported the the LDL apheresis availability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data point to the large population of heterozygous FH patients in the CESE region but low diagnostic rate. However structures through the ScreenPro FH project are being created and we can hope that the results will appear soon.Key words: diagnosis - epidemiology - familial hypercholesterolemia - screening.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Češka
authors.forename: Tomáš
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Freiberger
authors.forename: Andrey V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Susekov
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paragh
authors.forename: Željko
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Reiner
authors.forename: Lale
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tokgözoğlu
authors.forename: Katarína
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rašlová
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banach
authors.forename: Branislav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vohnout
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rynkiewicz
authors.forename: Assen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goudev
authors.forename: Gheorghe-Andrei
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaiţă
authors.forename: Belma
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pojskić
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pećin
authors.forename: Meral
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kayıkçıoğlu
authors.forename: Olena
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mitchenko
authors.forename: Marat V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Ezhov
authors.forename: Gustavs
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Latkovskis
authors.forename: Žaneta
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Petrulionienė
authors.forename: Zlatko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fras
authors.forename: Nebojsa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tasić
authors.forename: Erkin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mirrakhimov
authors.forename: Tolkun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murataliev
authors.forename: Alexander B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Shek
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tuka
authors.forename: Alexandros D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Tselepis
authors.forename: Elie M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Moubarak
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al Rasadi
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D006938:Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008403:Mass Screening; D015995:Prevalence