Family heart disease
Family heart disease
You may have heard the expressions “heart disease runs in the family” or “they suffer with family heart disease” or “they have a heart disease family history”, or similar statements of concern, well if any of these generalities applies to your family then this should be of interest to you, your brothers and sisters (siblings), your children and other of your family members.
We take it as understood that family traits such as tallness, hair color etc. can be passed down from our parents, grandparents and further back. These family features are passed down to us through the genes we inherit from our parents who in turn inherited similar genes them from their parents.
Some forms of heart disease are influenced by our genes. Scientists have only worked out the details of a few of these genes. Therefore, at present, there is no easy test which gives the full picture. We all inherit some predispositions for certain chronic diseases. An inherited predispositions may not actually cause a problem on their own but when the person is exposed to some specific environmental condition, the combination can be serious. For example, if we inherited a predisposition to premature heart disease because our body was not able to handle cholesterol adequately and at the same time our diet was such that we ate high cholesterol containing foods, the combination of these two factors would be much worse than if we only had one of the risks. Having a diet which causes high cholesterol is bad by itself but is much worse for someone who has the additional risk factor of an inherited predisposition.
So how do we know we might have family heart disease and have inherited a cardiovascular disease problem. With current science it is not possible to get a yes/no answer so for now the best we can do is to look at our family history and see what has happened with our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. with relation to heart disease. It is a fact of life that we all have to die of something and one of the most likely causes of death in the modern world is heart disease. So having one or both parents die of heart disease in itself may not be significant.
However there are several things to look for in a family tree that can be a warning for you to look into this more closely as part of your heart disease prevention measures.
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Firstly how old was the family member when they first had an event that was related to the health of their heart. For example did this person survive a heart attack at 45 and then lived to be 65.
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Secondly how close a relative are they to you. Parents, brothers, sisters and your children are called first degree relatives. Your grandparents, aunts and uncles are called second degree relatives and your cousins are third degree relatives. The closer the relative with a heart problem is to you the more significant this is.
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Thirdly how many of your relatives have had heart problems.
Just because you may find no family heart disease as there are no close family members with heart disease problems this does not necessarily put you in the clear. There can be a number of reasons for this including the faulty memories of surviving family members, miss diagnosis of a medical event or reason for death or your inheritance of a new strain of heart condition or something else entirely.
Accurately interpreting any family history of heart disease requires medical training and experience. Even some general practice physicians do not have the knowledge and experience to recognize a heart disease family history, although they may not admit to this.
If you are concerned about what your family heart disease means to you, your siblings, your children or any other family members then you should look into this further and get a heart risk assessment.
Ask yourself the question is my family’s history of heart disease a concern to me
If you have had heart problems at an early age then you should make this clear to other family members as this family medical history is important especially to your children and grandchildren.
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This is part of the MyHeartRisk (My Heart Risk) series including:
- BMI and heart disease
- How is your heart like your car?
- My heart risk score
- Your heart disease risk calculator and report writer
- Heart attack risk
MyHeartRisk mission: To help users better understand their personal heart disease risk factors and how to advocate for themselves with their health care providers for a more healthy and potentially longer life. To ask the question ‘What is my heart risk’ and get not only a personalized response but to have a partner on the road to improved health and longevity.
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‘Preventing your heart disease’
Why not take the time to see if family heart disease applies to your family
