Heart diseases encompass all geographical, gender or socioeconomic boundaries. Cardiovascular Diseases ( CVD) is found to be an important cause of global mortality and in five of the six WHO regions it is the leading cause of mortality. According to estimates by WHO, 16.6 million deaths are attributed to CVD worldwide out of which 80% is in developing countries.

While Several reasons like lifestyle, food habits and other physiological disorders can be attributed to cardiac diseases, several cardiac disorders have been found to run in the genes and being passed onto the next generations.

Inherited Cardiac Conditions

Inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) is a generic term covering a wide variety of relatively rare diseases of the heart with apparently unexplained reasons. They are also referred to as genetic cardiac conditions.In several cases these conditions may pose threat to life. Unfortunately ,data describing the global incidence of deaths by ICC is lacking but it is estimated that in UK alone around 500 young people die every year as a result of  genetic heart disorders. The prevalence of inherited heart diseases ranges from 1 in 200 to 10000 in the general population.

Symptoms of Inherited Cardiac Conditions

The major issue with ICC is that it is often asymptomatic and catches one unaware. A sudden death at a very young age in a family often serves as an eye-opener. The relatives of the patient carrying the same mutated gene remains at risk.

These conditions do not always have symptoms, so you can be unaware that you may have the conditions. Sadly, this can sometimes mean that the first time a family is aware of being affected is after a sudden cardiac death (SCD).

There are other less common inherited heart diseases that are caused by just one or very few genetic changes that have a very strong effect in causing a disease.

The few common symptoms that may indicate an ICC are:

• Palpitations

• Fainting or blackouts (also known as syncope or “near” faint)

The majority of children and young adults with syncope have a normal heart disease and no major heart rhythm problem.

No gender bias exists  for Inherited Heart Disease. Most of the mutations associated with hereditary types of heart disease are passed through families in an autosomal dominant pattern. Thus the condition can equally affect males and females. It also translates into a risk factor that all first-degree relatives (parents, siblings and children) of affected individuals have a 50 percent risk of inheriting the predisposition.

Most of the mutations associated with hereditary types of heart disease are passed through families in an autosomal dominant pattern. Thus the condition can equally affect males and females. It also translates into a risk factor that all first-degree relatives (parents, siblings and children) of affected individuals have a 50 percent risk of inheriting the predisposition. .

Different inherited heart conditions

Many types of heart disease are inherited or have a genetic component, such as:

Cardiomyopathies: The heart muscle becomes stiff, thickened or enlarged. A special condition, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest in young people.

Inherited arrhythmias: Arrhythmia is irregularity seen in heart beats. This includes conditions such as long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome.

High blood cholesterol: It is also known as familial hypercholesterolemia, this disorder increases risk of developing coronary artery disease.

Other inherited conditions such as Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, pulmonary arterial hypertension and familial amyloidosis may cause cardiac disorders.

Diagnosis of these conditions can be difficult for a variety of reasons, including the variability of the disease expression, their complex nature and the subtlety of some of their features.

Complex Heart Disease

Complex forms of heart disease often becomes a challenge for the physician as the condition is due to a combination of several risk factors. Examples include Coronary artery diseases , one of the most common types of cardiac diseases. It happens when blockages form in the coronary arteries, which supply oxygen to the heart. Many studies have shown that about half of coronary artery disease is due to hereditary factors.