Strong family history of myocardial infarction

[JJKen]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. My husband is 38 years old and in good health as far as we know. His father just recently had a heart attack ("the widow maker") at the age of 63 and was otherwise in good health, has yearly physical and blood work. My husband's grandfather died in his 70s of a presumed heart attack and his great-grandfather died from a heart attack in his 60s, but it was believed that he had heart attacks previous to that. So my questions are: How big of a risk is my husband at? Should he have a echo/stress echo or other tests to check his heart? When it is familial is there much that can be done?

Thanks again for your time,
JJ

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

I find that the genetic component is very difficult to evaluate in that there are lots of reasons for people to have heart attacks at younger ages in previous generations.

The important things for your husband are:
1)does he have concerning symptoms (chest pain, shortness of breath)
2)is he overweight?, have high blood pressure?
3)does he exercise?, smoke?
4)he should have a fasting lipid profile
All of these will help figure out his cardiac risk and the need (or not) for a stress test.

[JJKen]

Thank you again for your time. I guess my real worry is that my husband's great-grandfather, grandfather, and dad were all in good health, non-smokers, and not overweight when this happened to them.

Thanks again! I will make sure to start with the fasting lipid profile....