Heart disease genetic link found
Two teams of scientists have identified a genetic flaw which increases the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
US and Canadian researchers found that up to one in four white people carries the section of DNA which increases the risk of heart disease by around 40%.
A separate study in Iceland found the same genetic variant was linked to a fifth of heart attacks.
Experts said the findings, published in Science, were important but lifestyle factors had a big impact on risk.
Both teams of researchers scanned the genomes of patients who had coronary heart disease or who had suffered a heart attack to see if there were any differences between them and healthy people.
The US/Canadian team found a section of DNA - called an allele - on a specific chromosome that was associated with heart disease.
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