Self-Efficacy, Perceived Barriers to Care, and Health-Promoting Behaviors Among Franco-Americans Across Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of perceived barriers to accessing health care services, self-efficacy, and health-promoting behaviors among Franco-Americans as a higher-risk group for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), stratified by cardiovascular risk factors.

Design: Cross-sectional survey based on components of the Health Belief Model.

Setting: Administered in-person at a Franco-American cultural center and online through mailing lists and social media platforms in the Northeastern United States.

Familial Hypercholesterolemia and the Founder Effect Among Franco-Americans: A Brief History and Call to Action.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by chronically elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and an increased risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. FH has been shown to disproportionately affect French Canadians and other ethnic populations due to the presence of a founder effect characterized by reduced genetic diversity resulting from relatively few individuals with FH-causing genetic mutations establishing self-contained populations. Beginning in the mid-1800s, approximately 1 million French Canadians immigrated to the Northeastern United States and largely remained in these small, tight-knit communities.

Longitudinal low density lipoprotein cholesterol goal achievement and cardiovascular outcomes among adult patients with familial hypercholesterolemia: The CASCADE FH registry.

Background And Aims: There are limited data from the US on outcomes of patients in specialty care for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).

Methods: CASCADE FH Registry data were analyzed to assess longitudinal changes in medication usage, in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, and the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE (myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, stroke or transient ischemic attack) in adults with FH followed in US specialty clinics.

Results: The cohort consisted of 1900 individuals (61% women, 87% Caucasian), with mean age of 56 ± 15 years, 37% prevalence of ASCVD at enrollment, mean pretreatment LDL-C 249 ± 68 mg/dl, mean enrollment LDL-C 145 mg/dl and 93% taking lipid lowering therapy.

Health disparities among adult patients with a phenotypic diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia in the CASCADE-FH™ patient registry.

Background And Aims: Most familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients remain undertreated, and it is unclear what role health disparities may play for FH patients in the US. We sought to describe sex and racial/ethnic disparities in a national registry of US FH patients.

Methods: We analyzed data from 3167 adults enrolled in the CAscade SCreening for Awareness and DEtection of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (CASCADE-FH) registry.