Underdiagnosis of Fabry disease in minority ethnic groups

Abstract

Fabry disease (FD) is a rare, pan ethnic X-linked disorder. We explored ethnic representation in our service and a national patient organisation. An audit of the University Hospitals Birmingham FD cohort revealed that 9 % of index cases are minority ethnic, compared to 18.3 % of the population of England and Wales and 51.4 % of the Birmingham population. A similar split was observed in a national patient cohort, highlighting a need to identify the reasons for under-representation.

Keywords

• Fabry disease
• Genetic testing
• Ethnicity
• Health inequalities
• Diagnosis