SAN FRANCISCO — Caucasians carrying a common genetic variant are up to 60 percent more likely to develop heart disease than those who don’t, regardless of lifestyle, according to two new studies. The studies, involving about 40 000 people in four countries, indicate that genetic factors can play a role in whether a person develops heart disease beyond smoking, diet, exercise or other well-established risk factors. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Western countries. About 25 percent of people of European origin carry this genetic variant, which appears on a region of chromosome 9, the researchers reported. ‘If we can identify genetic factors which influence heart disease risk over and above known risk factors, we can do a better job of identifying those people who will benefit most from early intervention to reduce their risk,’ said Ruth McPherson, director of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Lipid Research Laboratory and lead author of one of the studies. McPherson and colleagues scanned the DNA of 1 300 heart patients and 1 500 healthy people in Ottawa for genetic variants. The results were checked against other large-scale genetic heart studies in the United […]