Hereditary Heart Disease

Hereditary Heart Disease

Heredity, for long years, has been considered as one of the unchangeable culprits of heart disease. Yes, several clinical studies and researches have supported this claim, noting that heredity plays a major role in the development of heart disease, and that people who have a family history of heart disease are more prone to it.

One particular support for the concept on hereditary heart disease is the one stressed by many studies which holds that there are certain levels of high cholesterol that can be inherited from one generation to another. This is known by many medical experts as Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) or simply inherited high cholesterol levels. According to these studies, FH is basically the main factor that causes hereditary heart disease to occur and develop. Once a person inherits this risk factor, his or her chance to develop a hereditary heart disease is higher than fifteen percent.

But how does familial hypercholesterolaemia causes hereditary heart disease?

Well, the familial hypercholesterolaemia is basically a high level of low density lipoprotein or LDL which is caused by a defect on a particular gene that is inherited from a parent to another. This LDL level develops when a defect on the cell receptors in the body occurs. Once the defect occurs, the cell receptor which is supposed to clear the levels of bad cholesterol in the body will become impotent, resulting to the build up of the bad cholesterol in the arteries. The build up will cause damage to the arteries, or will narrow the arteries, leaving it incapable of carrying supply of blood and oxygen to the heart. This in turn can lead to hereditary heart disease. Perhaps what's important to note here is that people with FH are more likely to develop hereditary heart disease at an earlier age.

Further researches about hereditary heart disease have revealed that if a parent has a heart defect, the risk of having a hereditary heart disease is increased by fifteen percent compared to the general population. And, with respect to age, those who aged 55 or more have the greater chances of developing hereditary heart disease by thirty percent. This chance can happen in a parent even before he or she reaches 55 years old. On the other hand, if both parents have developed hereditary heart disease earlier in life, the risk for the children to develop heart disease can rise up to fifty percent compared to the general population.

So if heart disease is affecting your entire family, the condition is may be due to your genes. Well, it is understandable that you can't change your genetic makeup, but this doesn't mean that you can't lower your risk of developing hereditary heart disease. There are things that you can do to at least lower your risk of heart disease. The key is basically lifestyle change and taking medications that help.