EKG abnormalities can mean trouble

EKG abnormalities can mean trouble

Seemingly minor abnormalities in electrocardiogram readings may be an important predictor of death from heart disease, a study found. Electrocardiograms measure the electrical impulses of the heart. Men with repeated small abnormalities in a portion of their EKG results called the ST-T wave segment were found to have an increased risk of dying of heart trouble, researchers reported in Journal of the Americ an Medical Association. Doctors have long been unsure what to make of such abnormalities in patients with no other signs of heart disease. The researchers studied 1,673 men who were 40 to 55 in 1957, when they became part of a long-term heart-disease study.

New Risk Factors for Heart Disease in Men

Male babies born underweight or who are thin and then rapidly gain weight during childhood are at an increased risk for heart disease, according to a new study. Researchers from the National Public Health Institute in Finland and the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southhampton in England studied 3,641 men born in Helsinki, Finland, between 1924 and 1933. Study results indicated that men who had a low birth weight or were thin at birth had the highest rates of heart disease and death from heart disease.
The study also showed that men who were thin at birth, but whose weight had quickly caught up by age of 7 and whose body mass index was above average afterward, had a high incidence of heart disease.
Earlier studies have shown a link between low birth weight and heart disease. Researchers say new evidence suggests a rapid weight gain during the early years of childhood also may be a risk factor.
Researchers suggest that thin babies who lack muscle and who rapidly develop a high body mass may have a disproportionately high body-fat mass. It's also possible that accelerated weight gain during early childhood may be damaging, researchers say. This study appears in the British Medical Journal.

Gene Influences Heart Disease, Stroke Risk

Researchers say a gene responsible for regulating fats in the bloodstream may also determine how much influence risk factors such as cholesterol levels may have on atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis, which occurs when fats build up in the arteries and cause them to harden, can lead to heart disease and stroke. Researchers led by Dr. Sharon L. R. Kardia of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor studied the relationships between atherosclerosis and genetics in 169 women and 160 men, all under the age of 60. None of the study participants showed earlier signs of heart disease and none of them had suffered a stroke. Researchers used electron-beam-computed tomography to detect calcium in plaque found in the arteries of people with no symptoms of heart disease and stroke. Researchers also say the gene called apolipoprotein E (Apo E) affects the risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Researchers used the tomography test to see which of the six types of the gene determined early calcification in the arteries. They found the Apo E-3/3 version appears to lower risk, while the ApoE-4/3 version increased the risk.
"Although we do not have the knowledge of the biological mechanisms to explain why some genotypes are more at risk than others, we do know that disease susceptibility in individuals is a consequence of interactions between genetic and environmental factors," Dr. Kardia says.
This study appears in the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.