Heart Attack Risk From Smoking Due To Genetics

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Smoking / Quit Smoking;  Genetics
Article Date: 20 Dec 2007 - 2:00 PST

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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."

The Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology is the first journal in an evolving subspecialty that incorporates ongoing advances in the clinical application and technology of traditional and new ECG-based techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac patients. The publication includes topics related to 12-lead, exercise and high-resolution electrocardiography, arrhythmias, ischemia, repolarization phenomena, heart rate variability, circadian rhythms, bioengineering technology, signal-averaged ECGs, T-wave alternans and automatic external defibrillation. Original research, clinical studies, state-of-the-art reviews, case reports, technical notes, and letters to the editors will be published to meet future demands in this field. For more information, please visit http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/anec.

Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the merger between Blackwell Publishing Ltd. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,250 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit http://www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.

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