A variety of clinical studies allow predicting a change in the state of health and suggesting that a person is waiting in the future. But not so long ago, scientists from the Johns Hopkins University released new data according to which information encrypted in the mitochondria can provide information about how great a person's risk of dying from heart disease.
The results of the studies are published in the journals JAMA Cardiology and European Heart Journal, nanonewsnet.ru reports. The developed test cannot only predict whether a person is waiting for sudden cardiac death but also to prevent it. For example, to give the opportunity to begin treatment in advance. According to the findings, the researchers found that the lower the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA in a person, the higher the risk of death from heart disease.
The head of the study was Dr Dan Eking. The scientist and his team collected genetic data from almost 22,000 patients who measured the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA and compared them to the number of nuclear DNAs. All the data were included in the cardiac calculator, which is now the "gold standard" in the diagnosis of heart disease. It takes into account a lot of criteria: from blood pressure to cholesterol and smoking experience to heart rate.
The addition of a new DNA-criterion allowed predicting a heart attack in six people who were not at risk in the next 5 years. And 139 people were able to abolish, without harm to health, the preventive treatment with statins, which was prescribed. The second study only confirmed the results: the scientists measured the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA in 11,093 patients and found that within 20 years 361 people who had this index was depressed died of sudden cardiac arrest.
"We believe that the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA is a new marker of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Their number may indicate an urgent need to initiate treatment. With the help of our method, we can create a test that will identify people at risk of sudden cardiac death in the near future."
