Menu
Study searches for possible link in family history, heart disease
CAMBRIDGE -- A retired cardiothoracic surgeon from Lincoln plans a study through Tri-Valley Health System to investigate the link between family history and premature heart disease.
For the study, Dr. Michael Breiner, MD, wants to involve people 59 years old and younger with or without heart disease or symptoms of heart disease, with close relatives who have heart disease or who have died from coronary disease.
Dr. Breiner and Dr. John Kane of the University of San Francisco have developed the study to identify families with histories of heart disease in hopes that early identification and risk factor modification will reduce premature death from coronary artery disease.
"The lives of spouses, and particularly the children, of premature heart disease victims are changed immeasurably by early tragic deaths," Dr. Breiner said.
Dr. Breiner said Thursday in Cambridge that early identification, treatment and modifications in lifestyle can counteract a family history of premature heart disease or death caused by heart disease. "Even with genetics against you," Dr. Breiner said, "we can reduce the risks, and reduce the chance of dying early."
Dr. Breiner, along with the director of the Tri Valley Medical Foundation Beth Siegfried and cardiac rehabilitation nurse Eileen Johnson, plan an informational meeting July 27 for families interested in participating in the study. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m., in the meeting room of the Congregational Church in Cambridge.
Families selected to participate will be asked to complete family medical history questionnaires, and blood samples will be drawn at a later date.
There will be no cost to participants, and Dr. Breiner guarantees that all information will be private and confidential.
For more information, contact Siegfried at (308) 697-1520.
"We need to be very concerned with heart disease in these young people," Dr. Breiner said. "Heart disease in someone younger than 60, whose family has a history of heart disease, is a different process than someone with the disease at 80 or later."
Dr. Breiner said the cause of many, many cases of premature heart disease and sudden death is "vulnerable plaque,"and its erosion and/or eruption into the blood stream.
Dr. Breiner says 50 percent of all patients with heart attacks have no prior history of heart problems and exhibit no symptoms of heart disease. That's because the problem -- vulnerable plaque and its inflammation -- lies within the artery wall, and does not show up with treadmill tests, stress tests or angiograms.
Patients with high "bad" cholesterol numbers statistically have a higher chance of also having vulnerable plaque, Dr. Breiner said.
Lowering cholesterol, "stabilizing" the plaque, stopping smoking and starting aspirin, exercise and diet regimens can reduce the chances of the plaque eroding and/or erupting, and causing sudden death.
Dr. Breiner said 47 percent of all heart attack victims die before reaching hospitals, and that many people still don't know the early warning signs of a heart attack: cold sweat, nausea, dizziness and pressure or pain in the chest that spreads to the shoulders, neck and arms.
The five big risk factors that Dr. Breiner and other health care practitioners wish everyone was aware of are:
- Family history
- Elevated or high cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Smoking
Cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and smoking are risk factors that can be controlled, Dr. Breiner said. And he does not believe the old doom-and-gloom adage, "There's nothing you can do about your family history."
He sees family history as a tool to diagnose current problems, and peer into the future and possibly prevent future problems, and even premature death.