Family History Best To Rate Heart Risk

Family history remains the best prediction of cardiovascular disease in women, say researchers whose work in genetic markers has failed to come with a more reliable measurement of risk.

According to research published in the Feb. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists created genetic marker-based risk scores for 19,313 women, but found no evidence that these scores accurately predicted cardiovascular disease risk.

The test s looked at more than 100 genetic mutations have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease. The genetic risk scores were constructed using the National Human Genome Research Institute's catalog of genome-wide association study results published between 2005 and 2009.

However, researchers said the score could not more accurately predict risk for the 19,000 study participants than the currently used method of evaluating blood pressure, cholesterol levels and family history.