A type of heart attack that tends to hit women under age 50 appears to have a genetic cause. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that a heart condition called spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) that can cause heart attacks seems to run in families.
SCAD occurs when the walls of one of the coronary arteries start to peel apart in layers, a process called dissection. Blood collects between the layers and swells the arteries, cutting off the blood supply to part of the heart, which in turn can cause a heart attack and death.
Women who do not have any of the standard risk factors for heart attack, such as elevated cholesterol, but who have a female relative who had a heart attack before age 50 may be at risk for SCAD.
The researchers went through the records of a registry of 412 patients who had SCAD. They identified five pairs of relatives with the condition, including mother-daughter, identical twin, sister, aunt-niece, and first cousin pairs. This means that the inheritance pattern of the genetic cause could be either dominant or recessive. The mother-daughter pair was found to have three maternal relatives not in the registry who had died of a heart attack.
About 80% of cases of SCAD occur in women. It causes up to a third of the heart attacks that occur in women under age 50, but the early symptoms of SCAD-chest pain-mimic those of a blockage of a coronary artery. Unfortunately, the treatment for a blockage in a coronary artery can seriously worsen SCAD. Treatment for SCAD can include coronary bypass surgery, but about a third of cases should be left to heal on their own, according to Dr. Sharonne Hayes of the Mayo Clinic and an author on the study.
The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
