Familiar transmission of coronary heart disease: A cohort study of 80,214 Swedish adoptees linked to their biological and adoptive parents

• Published in: The American heart journal 2011-08, Vol.162 (2), p.317-323
• Main Authors: Sundquist, Kristina, MD, PhD, Winkleby, Marilyn, PhD, Li, Xinjun, MD, PhD, Ji, Jianguang, MD, PhD, Hemminki, Kari, MD, PhD, Sundquist, Jan, MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adoption; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular; Cardiovascular disease; Coronary heart disease; Health risk assessment; Heart; Hospitalization; Medical sciences; Socioeconomic factors
• ISSN: 0002-8703; 1097-6744
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ahj.2011.05.013

Background Studies of adoptees have the potential to disentangle the contributions of genetic versus family environmental factors in the familiar transmission of coronary heart disease (CHD) because adoptees do not share the same family environment as their biological parents. The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to examine the risk of CHD in adopted men and women with at least one biological parent with CHD and (2) to examine the risk of CHD in adopted men and women with at least one adoptive parent with CHD. Methods The Swedish Multigenerational register was used to follow all Swedish-born adoptees (born in or after 1932, n = 80,214) between January 1, 1973, and December 31, 2008, for CHD. The risk of CHD was estimated in adopted men and women with at least one biological parent with CHD and adopted men and women with at least one adoptive parent with CHD. The control groups consisted of adopted men or women without a biological parent with CHD or adopted men or women without an adoptive parent with CHD. Results Adopted men and women with at least one biological parent with CHD (n = 749) were 1.4 to 1.6 times (statistically significant, 95% CI) more likely to have CHD than adoptees without a biological parent with CHD. In contrast, men and women with at least one adoptive parent with CHD (n = 1,009) were not at increased risk of the disease. Conclusions These findings (based on validated hospital diagnoses unbiased by recall) suggest that the familiar transmission of CHD from parents to offspring is more related to genetic factors than to family environmental factors.