Health insurance news - Heart disease risk can be inherited

Men could inherit heart disease from their father say scientists that have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that is passed down from dads to their sons.

After studying the DNA of over 3,000 men they found a particular version of the sex chromosome can increase the risk of coronary artery disease by up to 50 per cent. It is claimed that as many as one in five Britons carry this version of Y.

This risk factor is in addition to the other heart condition causes such as cholesterol, according to The Lancet.

Experts are already aware that men develop heart disease a decade earlier than women on average, with the lifetime risk of heart disease standing at one in two for men and one in three for women by the time they reach the age of 40.

Lifestyle factors such as smoking and blood pressure are also known to be important contributors.

Dr Maciej Tomaszewski, clinical senior lecturer at the University of Leicester's department of cardiovascular sciences, said the team is extremely excited by the results as they put the Y chromosome on the map of genetic susceptibility.

Doctors had previously associated the Y chromosome with maleness and fertility but this research shows it is also implicated in heart disease, he continued.

In the meantime, Dr Tomaszewski said health insurance customers should focus on risk factors that they already have the power to modify themselves, such as getting enough exercise and eating a healthy diet to keep both blood pressure and cholesterol down.

Dr Helene Wilson of the British Heart Foundation added: "Lifestyle choices such as poor diet and smoking are major causes, but inherited factors carried in DNA are also part of the picture. The next step is to identify specifically which genes are responsible and how they might increase heart attack risk."

Last month, a study from Oxford University claimed that the death rate from heart attacks in England had halved between 2002 and 2010.