Does Heart Disease Run in Your Family? 3 Common Types of Inherited Heart Conditions

Could heart disease be in your genes? Read more to understand inherited heart conditions and their diagnosis.

If your family has a history of heart problems, you might wonder if these issues are inherited. Scientists now know that many common heart disorders can run in families. Discover what this means for your personal heart health and if genetic testing could help assess your risk for things like high cholesterol or a heart attack.

What Are Inherited Heart Conditions

An inherited heart condition is a problem with the heart that runs in families. This means it's passed down through your genes from your parents. These conditions can affect the heart's structure or how well it works. Here are three main types:

1. Inherited heart-rhythm disorders. These disorders affect how the heart beats. A genetic issue may cause the heart to beat too slowly, too quickly, or irregularly. Examples include long QT syndrome (LQTS), Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), and progressive cardiac conduction defect (PCCD).
2. Inherited cardiomyopathies. Here, a faulty gene makes the heart muscle weak or too thick, affecting its ability to pump blood. This can lead to conditions like dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
3. Inherited high cholesterol. While most high cholesterol isn't genetic, some cases are caused by a specific gene mutation, familial hypercholesterolemia, which runs in families.

How Do Doctors Check for Inherited Heart Conditions?

Because certain heart disorders are hereditary, you may think that genetic testing holds the key to diagnosis and treatment. In most cases, however, that's not how it works.

The most important piece of the diagnostic puzzle may lie in your family history. Ask your parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters about any health problems, then tell your doctor about conditions that show up in multiple family members. You don't need to go back too far; focus on recent generations, as older medical records and lifestyles were very different.

Your doctor will use a combination of your family medical history and modern diagnostic tools to determine whether you have an inherited heart condition. Genetic heart rhythm disorders are diagnosed using an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) test—which checks your heart's electrical signals—and inherited cardiomyopathies may be diagnosed using minimally invasive methods such as echocardiogram or cardiac catheterization to view the structure of the organ. If high cholesterol runs in your family and doesn’t improve with lifestyle changes like diet and exercise, it’s likely hereditary and may not need further testing.

Early Diagnosis Can Save Your Life

Some genetic heart problems can be very serious, even causing sudden death. That's why early diagnosis is so important. If your family exhibits a history of heart problems, be sure to provide your doctor (and your children's pediatrician) with a solid family history. When these inherited heart conditions are found early, they can often be treated or watched closely. These early interventions may help you live a long, healthy life, no matter what your DNA says.

Copyrighted material adapted with permission from Ignite Healthwise, LLC. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor.