A mechanism-based operational definition and classification of hypercholesterolemia

In contrast to strong evidence-based clinical recommendations for lipid-lowering treatment, there is no analogous definitive diagnostic definition of hypercholesterolemia and its various subtypes. For many clinicians, guideline indications for hypolipidemic treatment can become broadly conflated with hypercholesterolemia in a non-specific sense. In this statement, we propose a unified definition and mechanism-based classification of hypercholesterolemia, which in turn should help to stratify patients and guide efficient diagnosis without interfering with the current strategies of ASCVD risk reduction.(c) 2022 National Lipid Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Automated summary

Contrary to the well-established evidence-based clinical recommendations for lipid-lowering treatment, there is a lack of definitive diagnostic definition for hypercholesterolemia and its subtypes. This statement proposes a unified definition and mechanism-based classification of hypercholesterolemia, aiming to stratify patients and guide efficient diagnosis.