AF in Parent Increases Risk in Children

Having a parent with atrial fibrillation (AF) strongly increases a child's risk of developing this disorder, according to a study of participants in the Framingham Heart Study.

Researchers found that the risk doubled for children with at least one parent with AF, compared to children whose parents did not have the condition. The study, involving 2, 243 adults, was published in the June 16, 2004, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. It is the first such study to find a genetic connection for AF in a community sample.

Most cases of AF occur in older people, affecting about one out of every 10 people aged 80 and over. In the study, the risk of AF tripled when both parents and the offspring were under age 75. The risk also tripled when the analysis was limited to children who had no clinically apparent heart disease.

"This important research finding will need to be confirmed but it opens up a new avenue of research on atrial fibrillation,” said Barbara Alving, M.D., acting director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI; Bethesda, MD, USA), which conducted the study. "Now scientists can start looking at genetic factors that might contribute to AF--searching for the genes involved in this increasingly common disorder.”




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