You may have heard that heart disease is something that can run in families. A new study shows that there is a form of heart disease that a father can give to his son via the Y chromosome. Genealogists who are putting together a medical family tree might want to make a note of this discovery.
Heart disease can run in families. Does it run in yours? Your parents might know the answer to that question. Genealogists can ask family members if any relatives have been diagnosed with heart disease. Ask if anyone was diabetic, or had high blood pressure, because those conditions can increase the risk of heart disease.
A study led by Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, from the University of Leicester, (and colleagues), identifies another factor that increases a person’s risk for heart disease. It turns out that men can inherit a particular form of heart disease from their father. The father passes this down genetically, through the Y chromosome.
This is not something that can affect daughters, because females do not have a Y chromosome. They have two X chromosomes. Males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. When a pregnancy occurs, it is the sperm that came from the father that determines whether the baby received an X chromosome or a Y chromosome from him. The mother’s egg can only give the baby an X chromosome.
The study included 3,233 British men. The men were previously enrolled in other medical studies that were investigating the risk of heart disease. Genetic testing was preformed on the men. The testing revealed that 90% of the men in the study had one of two common versions of the Y chromosome. These two common versions were named haplogroup I and haplogroup R1b1b2.
Researchers found that the men who are carrying a Y chromosome from haplogroup I were at a 50% higher risk of developing heart disease than were the men who had a Y chromosome from haplogroup R1b1b2. More research will need to be done in order to determine exactly which genes on that Y chromosome are responsible for the 50% increased risk in heart disease.
There is hope that this discovery could one day lead to a genetic test that could quickly identify the men who were at the greatest genetic risk of developing heart disease. Once identified, the men could receive treatment.
It is important to know that there are lifestyle choices that can increase a person’s risk of developing heart disease. These factors will affect men, no matter what type of Y chromosome they have. It can also affect women. To decrease your risk of heart disease, you should make sure you are eating a healthy diet, and getting a good amount of exercise. Work on lowering your cholesterol, and keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range.
Image by Lisa Stevens on Flickr