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Glite Dictionary
familial hypercholesterolemia

familial hypercholesterolemia

9.9
Very high cholesterol in the blood passed down from parents that causes early heart disease
  • noun
  • /fəˈmɪliəl ˌhaɪpərˌkoʊlɛstəˈroʊlɪmiə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hipercolesterolemia familiar
  • I have familial hypercholesterolemia, and because I had medical insurance, my condition was monitored... but it is untreatable.

Examples

  • I have familial hypercholesterolemia.

    Blog text (13)

  • The truth is that many people with familial hypercholesterolemia do wind up needing medication.

  • But if you have a strong family history of the disease or have familial hypercholesterolemia, you might benefit from aspirin therapy.

  • Usually, sky-high blood cholesterol is the result of a genetic disorder called familial hypercholesterolemia.

Synonyms

hypercholesterolemia
vsfamilial hypercholesterolemia
  • Specialized
1 8.6

A condition in which the blood has very high cholesterol and raises the risk of heart disease

is inherited and leads to very early artery hardening rather than typical adult risk
hyperbetalipoproteinemia
vsfamilial hypercholesterolemia
  • Specialized
9.9

An inherited blood condition that causes very high levels of bad cholesterol and early heart disease

is hereditary and causes very high blood cholesterol with early artery hardening

Surface Forms

familial hypercholesterolemia singular
familial hypercholesterolemias plural

Morphology

familial + hypercholesterolemia

The meaning 'a hereditary condition of very high blood cholesterol' is directly and compositionally derived from 'familial' (pertaining to family/inherited) + 'hypercholesterolemia' (abnormally high cholesterol). This follows standard medical compounding patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Familial hypercholesterolemia is made of familial ('in the family') and hypercholesterolemia ('too much cholesterol in the blood'). So the name creates a simple picture: a problem 'passed down in families' that causes 'very high cholesterol' and early heart problems.