New genetic tests ‘can identify those at risk of heart disease’

‘Groundbreaking’ technology could detect patients ‘invisible’ to the NHS, Thomas Kingsley reports

The new technology has been branded a ‘gamechanger’ (PA Wire)

New predictive genetic tests have allowed GPs in north England to identify people most at risk of heart disease in the world’s first pilot of the technology.

The NHS study, called Heart, offered genetic tests to nearly 1,000 people aged between 45 and 64, in the hope of better predicting their risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years.

Practitioners at 12 GP surgeries in the north-east and north Cumbria found that the calculated risk of heart disease based on routine measures such as family history, blood pressure, body mass index and smoking status changed for about a quarter of participants when their DNA was taken into account.