ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A combination of gene variants may
help predict those at risk for heart attack, stroke or sudden cardiac death.
These findings may help target individuals who need cholesterol-lowering
medications and other early-intervention methods to combat heart problems.
Researchers set out to see if nine gene variants previously associated with
cholesterol levels could predict those at risk of high or low cholesterol or
heart disease. Using the nine variants, they created a scale ranging from zero
to 18.
The scale was a success. “The higher the score, the higher your risk [of
cardiovascular disease] … The lower the score, the lower your risk,” Sekar
Kathiresan, M.D., lead author and Director of Preventive Cardiology at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass., told Ivanhoe.
Dr. Kathiresan says the scale may help with preprescription genotyping --
treating people identified as being at risk of high cholesterol with
cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins. “The idea is you can actually look at
the genotypes of young patients in their 20’s and 30’s to identify what
individuals are at risk of developing high cholesterol and heart disease,” Dr.
Kathiresan said.
Experts estimate about half of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), “good”
cholesterol levels, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), “bad” cholesterol levels,
can be attributed to your genes rather than to diet and exercise.
Researchers say the scale’s accuracy will improve as they identify even more
gene variants that affect cardiovascular health. “We estimate in another year or
two there will probably be somewhere between 50 and 100 variants that will need
to be integrated into the score,” Dr. Kathiresan said.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, 2008;358:1240-1249
