Heart attack
- Fact: Heart disease is the most common cause of death. About 900,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year – often with no prior warning signs.
- Proportion of risk that's in your genes: 57 percent if you’re a man, 38 percent if you’re a woman.
- What you can do: If you make dietary and lifestyle changes before symptoms of heart attack develop, you may be able to delay or reverse the progress of coronary artery disease – and prevent a heart attack. Determining from a genetic test that you are at increased genetic risk may motivate you to make these changes.
- Did you know? Years ago, a heart attack was often fatal. Thanks to better awareness of heart attack symptoms as well as improved treatments for heart disease, most people who have one now survive.
Coronary artery disease — the precursor to most heart attacks — is a silent process that narrows the arteries nourishing the heart. In many people, plaque (cholesterol deposits) gradually builds up in their arteries over a lifetime. Sometimes it’s detected through screening tests. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s discovered only after a heart attack. Other factors, such as chronic inflammation, also seem to play a part.
It has long been known that heart disease tends to cluster in families. Now scientists are discovering the specific genes and genetic markers that increase heart disease risk and are starting to unravel the interplay between lifestyle risk factors and genetics.
Genetic risk factors may increase heart attack risk in several ways. Some genetic variations can make you more vulnerable to established risk factors, such as high cholesterol, triglycerides or blood pressure. Other genetic variations may increase your risk of conditions such as diabetes. These factors increase your risk of heart attack indirectly.
Through our genetic testing service, customers' DNA is checked to see whether they have inherited certain markers that are directly associated with an increased risk of heart attack.
Knowledge of your genetic risk factors gives you the chance to change your lifestyle habits, such as the foods you eat or how much you exercise. Simple lifestyle measures can go a long way toward preventing a heart attack or controlling heart disease should you already have it.
