FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla., September 14, 2026 —The Family Heart Foundation, a leading research, education and advocacy organization, today announced the publication of a new peer-reviewed study in JACC: Advances demonstrating how its FIND Lp(a)® Machine Learning Model can identify people with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who are more likely to have high lipoprotein(a) — or Lp(a). The model has already been successfully deployed at five large U.S. healthcare systems participating in the FIND Lp(a) Program that aims to catalyze Lp(a) screening. The model's high level of precision supports targeted Lp(a) screening as a practical approach for healthcare systems working toward implementation of guideline-recommended universal screening.
The study , "FIND Lp(a) MLM: Targeted Screening Enrichment of Elevated Lipoprotein(a) in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease," describes the development and initial validation of the FIND Lp(a) Machine Learning Model using the Family Heart Database®. Patients identified by the model were more than 2.2 times as likely to have high Lp(a) (≥ 125 nmol/L) as the overall population of people with ASCVD in the Family Heart Database, demonstrating the model's ability to help healthcare systems prioritize Lp(a) screening for patients most likely to have high Lp(a). Additional validation using retrospective and prospective healthcare systems data are currently ongoing.
"Although, recently released U.S. dyslipidemia guidelines recommend Lp(a) screening for all adults, integrating this into routine clinical practice will take many years, if not decades," said Diane MacDougall, vice president of Research at the Family Heart Foundation and principal author of the study. "The FIND Lp(a) model supports targeted screening by helping identify people most likely to have high Lp(a), accelerating the adoption of universal screening and creating more opportunities for individuals living with high Lp(a) and their healthcare teams to manage cardiovascular risk."
High Lp(a) is an independent, genetically determined risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Lp(a) awareness remains low across clinicians, health system administrators, payors, and the public. Despite evidence that 1 in 5 people have high Lp(a), 99% of people in the U.S. have never had their Lp(a) screened.
