NEW YORK: The children of parents with heart failure have an increased likelihood of developing the condition themselves, according to new findings from the Framingham Offspring Study.

"If our findings are confirmed, there would be added justification for adding heart failure to the list of conditions that one can inquire about when obtaining family history of medical disorders from patients," Dr Vasan S. Ramachandran said.

Ramachandran, from Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues investigated whether a parental history of heart failure increased the risk of impaired function of the left ventricle of the heart its main pumping chamber or overt heart failure in the offspring, using data from study participants.

The offspring of parents with heart failure had higher rates of increased left ventricular dysfunction and dimensions than did offspring whose parents did not have heart failure, the investigators reported.

During a 20-year follow-up, the presence of parental heart failure was associated with higher rates of heart failure in the offspring, the researchers found. The adjusted rate of heart failure was 70 per cent higher than in those without parental heart failure, according to the report, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Not surprisingly, the presence of heart failure in both parents increased the risk of heart failure in the offspring more than did heart failure in only one parent, the report indicated.

"Our demonstration of an increased familial risk of heart failure suggests, but does not establish, a causal relation of genetic factors to the disease process," the team concluded.

"We have several ongoing studies evaluating the genetic underpinnings of heart failure ... including but not limited to studies of select candidate genes," Ramachandran added.

(China Daily 07/19/2006 page13)