Paquette M, Bernard S, Baass A, et al. - Hemoglobin (HB), red blood cell (RBC) count and hematocrit (HCT) are the parameters that could be employed to further improve the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk prediction in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).

• This is a prospective cohort study of genetically-confirmed FH patients without history of a prior ASCVD event.

• A total of 482 participants (6217 person-years of follow-up) were analyzed.

• Significant predictors of risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary revascularization, unstable angina or cardiovascular death) were: HB, RBC count, and HCT with HRs 1.04, 2.69, and 1.16, respectively.

• These links continued to be significant when adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

• 4-fold and 7-fold higher frequency of recurrent MACE was found in the group above vs below the median for HB and RBC count, respectively.