Heart attacks among cigarette smokers may have less to do with tobacco than genetics. A common defect in a gene controlling cholesterol metabolism boosts smokers’ risk of an early heart attack, according to a new study in Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology. The findings also show that smokers without the defect normally have heart attacks no sooner than their non-smoking peers.
Although the link between smoking and heart disease was established decades ago, the reasons for that link were unclear. More recent studies suggest smoking interferes with cholesterol metabolism, lowering smokers’ levels of high-density lipoprotein, the good cholesterol that protects against heart-attack risk. An estimated 55 to 60 percent of smokers face the added risk of a defective gene that also lowers levels of the protective high-density lipoprotein. Therefore, the combination of smoking plus a defective gene substantially accentuates the risk of heart attacks in these patients..
Researcher Ilan Goldenberg, M.D., and colleagues were the first to evaluate both smoking history and the genetic trait in heart-attack patients. They found that smokers with the genetic defect had their first heart attack eight to nine years earlier than non-smokers. Smokers with a healthy version of the gene had their first heart attack only three years earlier than non-smokers, a difference the researchers considered non-significant.
“Since the frequency of this ‘bad’ gene in the general population is about 60 percent, many people who smoke have a high risk of experiencing a heart attack at a young age,” Goldenberg said. “This finding should increase awareness for smoking cessation.”
Source: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Related stories:
At risk for peripheral arterial disease? Simple quiz provides key so you can circulate better
Ten million Americans have peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and research shows that the highest risk populations include African-Americans (twice as likely to develop clogged leg arteries), seniors (12-20 percent develop PAD) and diabetics (one in three who are over the age of 50 develop PAD). Legs for Life®—a community health and public information program—recommends that older Americans take its free, online self-assessment quiz.
Babies' rapid weight gain linked to higher blood pressure as adults
The pace of weight gain in early childhood may be associated with increased blood pressure in adulthood, according to a report in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Smoking riskier to women's hearts than men's
(AP) -- Women typically get heart disease much later than men, but not if they smoke, researchers said Tuesday. In fact, women who smoke have heart attacks nearly 14 years earlier than women who don't smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology. For men, the gap is not so dramatic; male smokers have heart attacks about six years earlier than men who don't smoke.
Millions face undiagnosed heart risk say researchers after mass screening
One in three people with a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) over the next 10 years have not been diagnosed, according to a major UK study in the September issue of IJCP, the
International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Will screening for cardiovascular problems be effective?
Last week the government in England closed its consultation on the effectiveness of vascular checks for high-risk individuals aged 40-74, to be rolled out in 2009-10, but will this strategy be worthwhile? Experts debate the issue on bmj.com today.
More aortic chest aneurysms being treated with less-invasive stents
An estimated 60,000 Americans are walking around with time bombs in their chests called thoracic aortic aneurysms. At any time, their main chest artery could suddenly burst open, causing massive internal bleeding that is almost always fatal.
California tobacco control program saved billions in medical costs
California's state tobacco control program saved $86 billion--in 2004 dollars--in personal healthcare costs in its first 15 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
New approach needed to tackle child abuse and neglect
Leading child advocates have called for a new approach to tackling child abuse and neglect amid rising rates of abuse notifications and children being brought into State care. The arguments for a new approach are set out in the latest edition of the
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.