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Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment Program

Prevent and manage your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Know Your Risk Develop a Plan Hereditary Cardiovascular Disease Contact Us

Know Your Risk

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Cardiovascular disease can strike randomly, but scientists know that up to 15 percent of heart disease is caused by hereditary factors. The hereditary cardiovascular clinic offers specialized resources for patients diagnosed at a young age or with a strong history of cardiovascular disease and/or sudden cardiac death in their family.

Genetic testing can help you learn if you are at increased risk for hereditary cardiovascular disease, including structural problems (cardiomyopathies) and electrophysiological problems (arrhythmias).

Develop a Plan

ChristianaCare’s Familial Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment program will help you understand your individual risk factors for heart and vascular disease based on your personal and family history. Your genetic counselor will help you look at lifestyle choices and environmental factors that may increase your risk, and help you explore the role genetics play in your risk. This information will help you and your physician develop a plan to prevent or manage your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular Genetic Counseling will help you:

Determine if you are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease based on your personal and family health histories.
Understand what it means to be at increased risk.
Consider the benefits, risks and limitations of available genetic testing.
Learn how to decrease your risks for cardiovascular disease, including early detection, lifestyle changes and aggressive management of cardiovascular problems.
Determine if you may benefit from and are eligible for current clinical trials or research studies.
Coordinate care with specialists for follow-up medical or emotional support.

Hereditary Cardiovascular Disease

The Familial Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Program at ChristianaCare’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health can help you understand your risks for hereditary cardiovascular disease. Information from personal and family health histories, and from testing, will help you and your doctor develop the best plan to manage your risk of these and other inherited cardiovascular conditions that are passed down through generations including:

Cardiomyopathies are diseases that involve the heart’s structure and interfere with the heart’s ability to pump blood, such as:

Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy — the heart muscle is abnormally thick and may become stiff over time. This leads to decreased ability to pump blood through the body and can lead to heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
Dilated Cardiomyopathy — the heart muscle becomes abnormally enlarged over time. This leads to a decreased ability to pump blood through the body and can lead to heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm and sudden cardiac death.
Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) — the heart muscle becomes replaced with abnormal fibrofatty tissue in the right ventricle. This leads to increased risk for arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, especially during exercise.

Arrhythmias are diseases that interfere with the heart’s electrical system, such as:

Long QT Syndrome — the time between heartbeats (the QT interval) is much longer than it should be. This abnormal rhythm, seen on an EKG, can result in fainting and sudden cardiac death.
Short QT Syndrome — the time between heartbeats is much shorter than it should be. This abnormal rhythm, seen on an EKG, can result in fainting and sudden cardiac death.
Brugada Syndrome — classified by a specific abnormal rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers, or ventricles, this arrhythmia detected by an EKG can lead to sudden cardiac death, often while the person is sleeping.

Hypercholesterolemia is a disease that makes the body unable to remove “bad” cholesterol, resulting in high levels of cholesterol in the blood (untreated adult LDL levels above 1900 mg/dl and total cholesterol levels above 310 mg/dl( and sometimes forming into small bumps on the skin that can appear on the hands, elbows, knees or around the eyes.

ChristianaCare’s Familial Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Program can also help you identify hereditary risk for:

Aortic structural disease — problems with the large blood vessel that loops from the top of the heart carrying oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
Coronary Artery Disease — plaque build-up that blocks the coronary arteries causing a lack of oxygen to the heart. The most common cause of heart disease, Coronary Artery Disease can be genetic, but risk factors also include high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity and physical inactivity.

Keep in mind that while a family history of heart disease could be genetic, it could also reflect a family’s shared habit or lifestyle, such as smoking or a high-fat diet. Your genetic counselor can provide valuable information that will help you and your doctor put a plan in place to better manage your health, make informed family planning decisions and advise other relatives about potential high-risk factors.

Contact Us

Talk with a qualified genetic counselor today about whether genetic testing is right for you. To schedule a confidential consultation, call 302-623-4593, option 1, or toll-free at 1-800-811-8116.