What to Do If Heart Problems Run in Your Family

On the surface, there’s much that you inherit from your family — the color of your eyes, your height, and more. These same family patterns can also present themselves below the surface, including your risks for certain cardiovascular issues.

Since heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, Dr. Madaiah Revana and the team here at Humble Cardiology Associates want to do all we can to mitigate your cardiovascular risks, which means taking a close look at your family tree.

Here’s a look at why family history is so important when it comes to your heart health and the steps you should take to offset your risks.

Defining family

When we refer to a “family history,” we’re really looking at immediate family, such as parents and siblings. If you had a parent or sibling who succumbed to a heart condition, it could be because of a genetic disorder, and you may have inherited the faulty gene as well. 

More distant relatives can also provide clues if certain patterns emerge from your family tree. For example, if you’ve had an uncle and a grandparent who both died of heart attacks at an early age, this is something that’s well worth exploring.

Types of heart disease that can be inherited

There are many different cardiovascular problems that can stem from a family tree, including:

• Inherited arrhythmias (irregular heart rates)
• Hypertension
• Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a thickening of the heart muscle)
• Familial hypercholesterolemia, which leads to higher-than-normal LDL levels (bad cholesterol)
• Coronary artery disease
• Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (a thin heart muscle)

This list is by no means comprehensive as there are rarer heart conditions that run in families, but these represent the more common.

Taking preventive steps

Knowing your family heart-health history allows us to take the necessary steps to determine and mitigate your risks for serious disease. For example, we can turn to genetic testing to see if you carry any worrisome mutations.

Whether you’re eligible for genetic testing or not, we still recommend some very important steps you can take on your own, such as:

• Eating a healthier diet
• Losing weight
• Exercising more
• Quitting bad habits, such as smoking or excessive drinking
• Taking medications for high blood pressure or high cholesterol

The most important step is to have us monitor you more closely so we can intervene at the first signs of trouble. Through vigilant oversight, we can help you stay one step ahead of heart disease and your family history.

To schedule your family history heart-health assessment, please contact one of our offices in Humble or Houston, Texas.