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A genetic test for increased risk of heart attack

Apart from the classic risk factors such as obesity, smoking, hypertension or arteriosclerosis, the presence of nine alternations in the genome of an individual have been associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease.

STAFF | SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2010

Researchers have developed a test for ischemic heart disease based on nine genetic variants associated with a linear and aggregative risk of the appearance of this disease. The higher the number of these gene variants present in an individual’s genome, the greater the risk he or she will suffer ischemic heart disease.

This is the conclusion of a study published in the Spanish Journal of Cardiology (REC) conducted by the Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Genetics Group of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM) in Barcelona, member of the CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health group (CIBERESP), Pompeu Fabra University and the Neurology Service of the Hospital del Mar.

Although the relevance of family history and the existence of genetic factors that determine the risk of ischemic heart disease has been known for many years, in the last three years the team of IMIM researchers has identified genetic variants that individually are associated with a higher probability of the disease. Some of these variants are also associated with the presence of the known cardiovascular risk factors, but others are not associated with these factors and suggest the existence of other less well known mechanisms that cause the disease.

More than one million people suffer ischemic heart disease in Spain
Dr. Roberto Elosua of the IMIM’s Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Genetics Group and a member of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC), stressed that “now one of the biggest challenges is to improve the tools available to calculate the risk that a person will have coronary heart disease in the future and one of the clinical applications of this genetic information can be to improve the determination of the risk of ischemic heart disease.”

In Spain, ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease. It is estimated that more than one million people suffer from it and every week some 770 people die for complications related to this disease (heart attack, angina and sudden death).

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