Coronary artery disease is a disease that results in myocardial ischemia caused by decreased blood flow to the heart muscle and is the most common cause of death in developed countries.
Coronary artery disease, environmental risk factors, family history and genetic factors contribute to the formation of the disease in varying degrees for each person. In short, if the person who has passed from the family keeps the risk factors in balance, he or she may not get cardiovascular diseases. On the contrary, a person with a good genetic transition can catch the disease if the situation related to other factors is negative.
When genetic risk factors associated with coronary artery disease are mentioned, mutations that lead to some functional and structural changes in proteins on the biochemical basis of the disease come to mind. It has been suggested in studies to date that many genes are associated with coronary artery disease, but there is no definite clarity.
Coronary artery disease that develops due to genetic effects is generally polygenetic, and a single gene mutation has been observed in a very few patient group.
Mutations associated with coronary artery disease can be listed as mutations associated with lipoproteins, mutations related to coagulation, and mutations related to blood pressure. In each of these biochemical events, enzymes, receptors and ligands encoded by many genes are involved. environmental or genetic effects also affect the disease process.
How does family history affect coronary artery disease?
The strongest family history for coronary artery disease is early coronary artery disease in first-degree relatives. Development of coronary artery disease before the age of 55 in first-degree male relatives and before age 65 in first-degree female relatives It increases the risk of developing atherosclerosis about two times in that person.
This risk increases 3-6 times in people with two or more first-degree relatives with coronary artery disease. At the same time, as the number of close relatives with coronary artery heart disease at an early age increases or the age of having coronary artery heart disease in the family decreases, the family history increases. its predictive value increases.
Therefore, family history is important. People are divided into high, medium and low risk groups depending on their family history. Lifestyle changes and cardiovascular preventive treatment should be determined according to the risk group. Screening tests should be planned at 1-2 year intervals, especially for individuals in the high-risk group.
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