Get a family cholesterol check

Members of the punk-rock band Dropdead also have played with crust-punk and grind-core bands Exploding Corpse Action and Conniption. (We don’t make this stuff up, folks.) Because they’re in an underground music scene, they’re easy to miss.

And if you have familial hypercholesterolemia—a genetic condition that causes hyped-up levels of lousy LDL cholesterol reaching 400 mg/ dL or higher—and don’t deal with it, you could develop a health conniption that sounds like the name of a headbanger band! The problem: FH is an underground condition.

In the U.S. alone, more than 1.3 million people have this disease, yet only 10 percent know it.

By age 50, men with FH have a 50 percent higher chance of heart attack (more than 30 percent drop dead), and by age 60 women have a 30 percent higher risk than folks without the condition.

Fortunately, researchers from Queen Mary University of London may have a diagnostic solution: Both child and parents, whether or not they’re aware of a family risk, should be screened for FH when the 1- to 2-year-old gets vaccinated (84 percent of British families are now doing this).

Research shows that about one in every 270 kids has FH, and every child identified with the disorder will have at least one parent who’s passed down the gene.

So, ask about the test when you take your child to the pediatrician, or if your kids are older, consider a family screening, especially if you have any relative who had a heart attack in their 50s or younger.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www. sharecare.com.