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| Wednesday, 28 December 2005 12:42 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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Having a brother or sister with cardiovascular disease increases the likelihood of an individual developing problems of their own, an American study has found.
Scientists studied data on 5,000 people and found that middle-aged adults with a sibling suffering from CVD have a 45 per cent increased risk of the same illness.
It is widely held that a family history of CVD is linked to an increased risk of the condition but the researchers from US Framingham Heart Study say there is a lack of evidence on exactly how much the threat is increased.
Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they said: "Sibling CVD should be considered as important as parental premature CVD in the assessment of risk."
An early shared environment may be a factor, with people developing poor eating or exercising habits in childhood, they added.
Belinda Linden, head of Medical Information at the British Heart Foundation, said on the BBC News website: "This study reinforces the evidence that although the genes we inherit from our parents can influence our risk of heart disease, the interaction between our genes and our lifestyle is probably more influential than our genes alone.
"The results highlight how important our lifestyle is, even as we grow up, in determining long term risk of heart disease.
"The good news is that whilst we can't change our genes, most people can take simple lifestyle steps to reduce the risk of heart disease for themselves and their families."
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