is heart disease genetic?

[yasinthomas001]

can any one tell me that is heart disease genetic...or it can happen to any one..what should one follow to get themself free from heart disease

[kenkeith]

BOSTON, Feb. 19 -- In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers here uncovered nine genetic variants associated with the risk of early heart attack -- including three that had not been previously identified.

■Note that several such studies have found several new genetic regions implicated in heart disease. While the risk associated with any particular variant is small, people with all or most of them have about double the risk of heart attack as those with none, according to Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues, reported in the Feb. 8, 2010 issue of Nature Genetics.

One implication of the findings, Dr. Kathiresan said, is that it may be possible to identify people at the highest risk of myocardial infarction and begin preventive treatment early.

>>"Since we already have effective ways to reduce heart-attack risk, individuals at higher genetic risk may benefit from earlier intervention," he said in a statement, although that's "something that needs to be tested in future studies."

The study, from the international Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, is one of several in that issue of the journal that discuss new genetic findings about heart disease risk. Most used the new method of genome-wide association, in which researchers examine the genes of cases and controls, seeking single-letter variants -- so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs -- that are associated with the disease in question.

In the study by Dr. Kathiresan and colleagues, the researchers looked at SNPs in more than 24,000 people, including 12,713 people with early heart attack and 12,841 matched controls. Early heart attack was defined as occurring at 50 or younger in men and 60 or younger in women......

[ed34]

Two genes have been isolated which seem to appear active in patients with CHD, but not in those without the disease. However, those genes do not automatically give you CHD, they need a catalyst such as high blood pressure, smoking or stress. We also have to remember that we inherit genes from both our parents, so because our grandparents may have suffered CHD, it isn't necessay that we will.

[Southern_woman]

  Yes it can be genetic, my Father had blockages and so did his sister
and now I have the same thing and the Drs said it is genetic in some people,
I have had a triple by-pass  which blocked 3 years later,,2 stents 2 years ago
and I had 3 more stent,s put in my heart 3 week,s ago,  I stay tried  all the time
and had a burning feeling in my chest area when they called 911 and my BP
was way high.

[grendslori]

A form of Cardiomyopathy called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is more genetic than sporatic. Some forms of electrical problems can also run in families, so to answer your questions, yes, some forms are genetic.

[cblmn7]

i dont know yet if theirs hard proof that its genetic but my father passed away at 52 his dad 47 and i have extensive heart disease. as for getting free from heart disease the only thing you can do is watch what you eat and exercise and get checked out regularly by a dr.it can happen to anyone.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

I don't know about my grandparents although I have been told that mom's mom had an enlarged heart.  Related to the following or not I can't tell you.  One of my older brothers had a double bypass in his early thirties.  Mom had stents three or four years ago, I had a double bypass this spring at age 41.  Could be just a coincidence such as having the same life style or it could be genetic.  There is also my father and six others in our family with no signs of heart trouble.