1. Home>
2. Specialties>
3. Cardiology>
4. Summary and Comment

My Parent Had Heart Failure. Will I Get It, Too?

A parental history of heart failure, particularly ischemic HF, was an independent risk factor for incident HF.

Is someone more likely to develop heart failure if his or her parent had HF? To address this question, researchers analyzed data from 1497 Framingham Offspring Study participants (mean age, 57; 55% women), 458 of whom had at least one parent with HF.

Participants with at least one parent with HF were significantly more likely to have left-ventricular hypertrophy (27% vs. 17%), LV enlargement (23% vs. 19%), and LV systolic dysfunction (6% vs. 3%) than were participants without parental HF. Findings were consistent, regardless of sex.

During a mean follow-up of 20 years, the risk for incident HF was significantly greater in participants with parental HF than in those without parental HF. This association persisted after adjustment for established HF risk factors, including LV mass (hazard ratio, 1.82). Secondary analyses demonstrated that people with a parent who had HF of ischemic etiology were significantly more likely to develop HF of any cause than were people whose parents did not have HF (HR, 2.63). However, when parental HF was nonischemic, the child’s risk for incident HF was not significantly increased.

Comment: These data support current guideline recommendations for routine echocardiographic surveillance of people who are at risk for HF, in conjunction with lifestyle modification and aggressive management of comorbidities. The risk for HF associated with parental history of HF was independent of other HF risk factors, but Framingham participants whose parents had HF did have a higher mean blood pressure and body-mass index than did participants whose parents did not have HF. Familial and other risk factors should be assessed as part of comprehensive prevention.

— William T. Abraham, MD

Published in Journal Watch Cardiology August 16, 2006

Citation(s):

Lee DS et al. Association of parental heart failure with risk of heart failure in offspring. N Engl J Med 2006 Jul 13; 355:138-47.

• Original article (Subscription may be required)
• Medline abstract (Free)