Toth - Figure 16 - Diagnosis (MEDPED, etc.) Text

Formal clinical diagnosis of FH can be made by applying any one of several validated sets of criteria, which include the following three:

• In the United States there is widespread use of the Make Early Diagnosis to Prevent Early Death, or MEDPED, criteria.[21]
• In Holland the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network system has been used.[22]
• In Great Britain, the Simon Broome Register Group has been developed.[23]

It should be noted that LDL cholesterol cut-points usually vary with age. The clinical diagnosis of FH is most likely when ≥2 first-degree relatives are found to have elevated LDL cholesterol in the range noted above, when pediatric cases are identified within the family, or when the patient or a close relative has tendinous xanthomas.

Toth PP. J Clin Lipidol. 2011; 5(6).