Gene linked to heart disease risk in some smokers

By Martin March, | Health | 0 Comments

Scientists have found that the genetic make-up of certain smokers puts them at greater risk of coronary heart disease than other smokers.
Findings of a study, show that the type of Apo E gene a person has can determine how much damage smoking causes to their blood vessels.

Researchers from University College London and the Wolfson Institute at St Bartholemew’s Hospital in London followed more than 3,000 healthy middle-aged men in the UK to determine precisely how Apo E genotype impacts on coronary heart disease.

As expected, the investigators found that smoking increased the risk of having a heart attack or needing cardiac surgery. The incidence of coronary heart disease events was more than twice as high in smokers as in those who had never taken up the habit.

The researchers found that smokers with the E4 version of Apo E were three times as likely to experience a cardiac event than nonsmokers, even after other risk factors were taken into consideration.

However, they found that even these high-risk smokers could reverse their heart risk by quitting smoking. Further results of the study show that heart disease risk in E4 ex-smokers was similar to that of men of who had never smoked.