> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Does your brother or sister have heart disease?
> That may be a better predictor of whether you are at risk that your
> parents' health history, researchers said on Monday.

> A study of nearly 8,500 healthy {*filter*}s in Ohio found that people were
> 2.5 times to three times more likely to have coronary atherosclerosis
> -- heart and artery disease -- if a brother or sister had already been
> diagnosed with heart disease.

> There was a correlation with parents, too, but much less so, according
> to the report in this week's issue of the journal Circulation.

> Doctors should take a careful family history from patients that
> includes brothers and sisters, the researchers at Johns Hopkins
> University in Baltimore, Ohio State University and the University of
> California Los Angeles said.

> Patients are usually asked if their mother or father had a range of
> diseases or conditions, but often the health history of brothers and
> sisters is overlooked.

> "Family history has for years been recognized as a risk factor in
> predicting a person's chance for developing coronary heart disease
> early on in life -- separate from better-known risk factors, such as
> HDL ('bad') and LDL ('good') cholesterol levels, {*filter*} pressure,
> smoking and age," said cardiologist Dr. Roger Blumenthal, who led the
> study.

> "But we never knew if there was a difference between sibling and
> parental histories of early heart disease in terms of a given
> individual's risk of developing early atherosclerosis."

> The Johns Hopkins team used electron-beam tomography, a form of
> computed tomography or CAT scans to look for buildups of calcium in
> the coronary artery, a main artery leading to the heart. This is an
> early signal of heart disease.

> People whose brother or sister had suffered a heart attack or who
> needed bypass surgery or angioplasty were nearly four times more
> likely to have advanced levels of atherosclerosis than those with no
> family history of heart disease.

> People whose parents had heart disease, but not siblings, were about
> twice as likely to have advanced levels of coronary calcium.

> Even people who seem healthy may need to work hard to lower their risk
> of heart disease if their brothers or sisters have it, Blumenthal
> said. That may include early use of {*filter*} such as aspirin or a statin
> as well as good diet and exercise.

> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Does your brother or sister have heart disease?
> That may be a better predictor of whether you are at risk that your
> parents' health history, researchers said on Monday.

> A study of nearly 8,500 healthy {*filter*}s in Ohio found that people were
> 2.5 times to three times more likely to have coronary atherosclerosis
> -- heart and artery disease -- if a brother or sister had already been
> diagnosed with heart disease.

> There was a correlation with parents, too, but much less so, according
> to the report in this week's issue of the journal Circulation.

> Doctors should take a careful family history from patients that
> includes brothers and sisters, the researchers at Johns Hopkins
> University in Baltimore, Ohio State University and the University of
> California Los Angeles said.

> Patients are usually asked if their mother or father had a range of
> diseases or conditions, but often the health history of brothers and
> sisters is overlooked.

> "Family history has for years been recognized as a risk factor in
> predicting a person's chance for developing coronary heart disease
> early on in life -- separate from better-known risk factors, such as
> HDL ('bad') and LDL ('good') cholesterol levels, {*filter*} pressure,
> smoking and age," said cardiologist Dr. Roger Blumenthal, who led the
> study.

> "But we never knew if there was a difference between sibling and
> parental histories of early heart disease in terms of a given
> individual's risk of developing early atherosclerosis."

> The Johns Hopkins team used electron-beam tomography, a form of
> computed tomography or CAT scans to look for buildups of calcium in
> the coronary artery, a main artery leading to the heart. This is an
> early signal of heart disease.

> People whose brother or sister had suffered a heart attack or who
> needed bypass surgery or angioplasty were nearly four times more
> likely to have advanced levels of atherosclerosis than those with no
> family history of heart disease.

> People whose parents had heart disease, but not siblings, were about
> twice as likely to have advanced levels of coronary calcium.

> Even people who seem healthy may need to work hard to lower their risk
> of heart disease if their brothers or sisters have it, Blumenthal
> said. That may include early use of {*filter*} such as aspirin or a statin
> as well as good diet and exercise.