Parents Affect Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

Even after accounting for well known risk factors, a person’s chance of having a heart attack or stroke seems to depend on whether their parents experienced such problems, new research shows.

Even after accounting for well known risk factors, a person’s chance of having a heart attack or stroke seems to depend on whether their parents experienced such problems, new research shows. Although several reports have linked parental cardiovascular disease (CVD) with CVD in their children, it was unclear if the relationship held true after considering other risk factors like smoking, according to the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. To investigate, Dr. Christopher J. O’Donnell, from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues analyzed data from 2302 subjects who enrolled in the Framingham Offspring Study. When the study began, the participants were an average of 44 years and all were free from CVD. During 8 years of follow-up, 164 men and 79 women experienced a heart attack or stroke. Having at least one parent with CVD raised the risk of such events by up to twofold. The highest risks were seen when the parent’s CVD occurred at a relatively young age: younger than 55 years for the father and younger than 65 years for the mother. Considering parental information may help doctors and patients decide which interventions are warranted to prevent CVD, the authors note. “These data also support further research into genetic determinants of cardiovascular risk.” (Source: Reuters Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, May 2004.)