In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigators report that if one of your parents has had atrial fibrillation, you are more likely to develop the same arrhythmia yourself.
This new information comes from participants in the Framingham Heart Study. In this study, data was analyzed from 2243 offspring of original Framingham participants, who were at least 30 years of age and who had no prior history of atrial fibrillation. During a 4-year follow-up period, 69 of these offspring developed atrial fibrillation. The risk of atrial fibrillation was significantly higher in those who had at least one parent with a history of atrial fibrillation - in these individuals, there was an 85% relative increase in risk. The risk was higher in offspring whose parents were under 75 years of age when atrial fibrillation developed. These findings suggest a genetic predisposition for atrial fibrillation.
This familial risk for atrial fibrillation is a brand new finding. While some rare forms of familial atrial fibrillation have been identified, until now very little evidence existed that there is a genetic basis for "run-of-the-mill" atrial fibrillation in the general population.
This is certainly an interesting finding, and it has received a fair amount of play in the news. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, atrial fibrillation is one of the most common arrhythmias, whether or not your parents have had it. So even individuals whose parents have never had the arrhythmia still can easily develop atrial fibrillation. Second, if your parents have had atrial fibrillation, your odds of developing the arrhythmia -while higher - are not astronomical. In fact, it is most likely you'll never experience the arrhythmia yourself.
The bottom line is that this study helps investigators to understand the origins of some atrial fibrillation. But it does not lend appreciable assistance to the individual in predicting the future, and does not give clues to methods of avoiding atrial fibrillation.
