Abu Dhabi doctors instruct patients to check family history for heart disease
UAE residents have been urged to check their family history to ensure they are not at high risk of heart disease without knowing it.
Doctors have stressed the importance of understanding relatives’ heart health, as it can provide a vital warning given the prevalence of conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in the UAE.
While poor diet and lifestyle are commonly understood contributors to heart disease, specialists at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi are highlighting genetic factors that can play a role.
Understanding risk factors and receiving screening can be life-saving, allowing doctors to deliver preventative care as soon as possible, medics said.
“I’ve treated patients who have lost siblings and other relatives to cardiac death at very young ages, said Dr Khalid Almuti, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Heart & Vascular Institute.
“There are genetic factors at play here, and I urge anyone with a family history of unexplained cardiac death to get screened as soon as possible.”
A survey conducted by Cleveland Clinic revealed that 51 per cent of surveyed Emiratis aged 18 to 29 were unaware of the role family history plays in heart disease.
“The good news is that, provided people are screened for conditions such as ventricular fibrillation, that cause cardiac death, we have a variety of tools at our disposal to manage them and potentially prevent unnecessary loss of young lives,” said Dr Almuti.
“One of my patients, who lost a number of close family members, came for genetic testing and we found evidence that suggested she was at extremely high risk.
“We were able to implant a defibrillator next to her heart to deliver life-saving therapy should she experience cardiac arrest. In other cases, when the findings are inconclusive, we can implant a very small remote monitoring device under the skin that alerts the patient and our healthcare team if it detects any hint of abnormal rhythms.”
Manal Hammoud, 31, a Palestinian, only found out that she has been living with a potentially fatal heart disease last year – the same disease that also took the life of her sister at 31 in 2011.
“It was a regular day, I was working out and suddenly started getting heart palpitations and a burning around my neck,” she said.
The Dubai marketing manager says that today she is glad that she didn’t dismiss. She was later referred to hospital where it emerged she suffered from a genetic heart disease.
“When I told the doctors that my sister suddenly died at 31 without any symptoms, they started doing all the tests and discovered that I had ARVC and ARVD.”
A small device was inserted near her collarbone to monitor her heart and she was asked to bring in family members.
“They tested my younger sister and found out that she too had the same disorder. We are so relieved that we discovered this early and that we now know what killed our sister,” she said.