What if your blood donation held clues to a dangerous genetic cholesterol condition that could also affect the health of your loved ones?

A study in JAMA Cardiology concludes that blood donation programs represent a unique opportunity as a public health portal to screen for diseases such as familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a condition that causes extremely high levels of cholesterol at an early age.

Cardiologists know that FH is genetic. When one person is diagnosed, other family members can be identified. However, only an estimated 10 percent of those with FH are diagnosed.

For someone with FH, the risk of heart disease is higher because their clock started early. They’ve been bathed in high cholesterol since birth. At the same time, they may not know their kids are at risk, said Professor of Internal Medicine Dr. Amit Khera, Principal Investigator for the study. Sometimes by identifying one patient with FH, we find as many as eight or 10 more family members who are at risk.

According to the American Association of Blood Banks, approximately 6.8 million people in the U.S. donate blood every year, and 32.3 percent are first-time donors.

Read the full story in the UT Southwestern Newsroom.