U.S. researchers studying older athletes have discovered two more genes implicated in early heart attack risk.
The study, which used a a group of healthy athletes from Utah’s Huntsman Senior Games, brings scientists a step closer to being able to alert patients to their chances of having a heart attack before the age 60, the Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News reported.
One man in the control group was 108 and still healthy. Others were older pilots who continue to pass Federal Aviation Administration flying tests even in their 80s, said study co-author Dr. John Kane, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco.
The research was a collaborative effort by the University of California-San Francisco, Celera Genomics, the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University and Brigham Young University, the newspaper said.
A person with either of the two newly discovered genetic variants has about twice the risk of early heart attack as someone who has neither gene, researchers said. One gene, VAMP8, is involved in clotting, the other gene is involved with inflammation.