Genetic Mutations Liked To Atrial Fibrillation Increases Heart Failure Risk

New mutation found in a gene associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation poses a significantly increased risk for heart failure in Black people, as per a study at the University Of Illinois at Chicago published in the journal JAMA Cardiology. AFib is one of the prevalent heart rhythm disorders. It increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and even dementia. This may change current guidelines that recommend against genetic testing in people with atrial fibrillations, also known as AFib.

"We found that this new variant confers a significantly increased risk in African Americans, and this mutation has a 50% chance of being passed on to offspring. Since it increases risk for heart failure, it would be wise to test people with atrial fibrillation to see if they carry this dangerous gene," says Dr. Dawood Darbar, UIC professor of medicine and pharmacology at the College of Medicine.

Earlier studies have demonstrated the role of several genes with variations or mutations that increased the risk of early-onset AFib in white people. One of these variants is in a gene called Titan is the largest gene in the human genome.

Gene Mutation and Atrial Fibrillation

Hence sequencing of the genes associated with increased risk of early-onset AFib was done in 227 Black and Latino patients with early-onset AFib who were seen at UI Health, UIC's health care system. It was found that 7% of these patients had at least one genetic variation associated with an increased risk of AFib. Among these patients, 50% had a mutation in the Titan gene.

"The Titan mutation is very strongly associated with an increased risk for heart failure as well as AFib, which suggests that African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos with early-onset AFib be screened for this dangerous gene. The new gene we discovered was present in six families with two or more individuals with early-onset AFib, making this gene very suspicious. We will be looking into the significance of this variation in our future studies," says Darbar.

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This shows that a new genetic variation might be associated with an increased risk of early-onset AFib.

Source-Medindia