Uncovering genetic roots of heart disease: New Zealand study seeks Fiji participants

An academic aims to identify the hereditary factors associated with early cardiac events in New Zealand’s Fijian community.

Dr Pritika Narayan is the project lead for the Fiji Heart Study, which includes researchers from the University of Otago and the University of Wellington.

“People are dying in their 20s or 30s from cardiac arrest at home. We see this pattern of the grandparent, the child, the grandchild affected, so there’s a clear inheritance pattern across the generations.”

Despite Fiji making up just two per cent of New Zealand’s population, Fijians account for 20 per cent of cardiac arrests among individuals under 40.

“We think there is a very clear genetic driver for the disease in our communities, and it’s largely independent of diabetes or obesity. The real clincher in the studies is people who are very healthy who are having these very early heart attacks.”

Speaking to Elenoa Turagaiviu on PMN Fiji, Narayan says a unique gene, which may have helped their ancestors during famine and illness, could now be causing health issues in today’s urban environment.

“We hypothesise they survived because they had some advantage or specific traits that enabled them to survive in those extreme environments that are now playing up and being maladaptive because of this dietary abundance that we now live in.”

She says this genetic trait might be leading to fat accumulation in arteries, resulting in premature heart attacks.

Watch Dr Pritika Narayan's full interview below.

A personal decision to participate

Nathan Singh chose to participate in the study after conducting research on his family history.

“I have lost two uncles from heart attacks, and we have other close family members who have either passed or have heart conditions.”

Singh’s father, Om, suffered from angina since 1987 and underwent a quadruple bypass 10 years later. After his surgery, Om made significant lifestyle changes - quitting smoking, altering his diet, and starting daily cardio exercises to improve his heart health.

“For me, it’s a very real thought that I and my children may also be affected genetically as I approach the same age when dad first started having symptoms,” Singh says.

Nathan Singh, left, was inspired by his father Om, right, to participate in the study. Photo/Supplied

Call for participants

The study seeks at least 40 participants of iTaukei or Girmit descent who have experienced a coronary event before age 55 or have a close family member who had a heart attack at a young age.

Eligible conditions include heart attacks, angina, stent placements, or bypass surgeries.

Participants must also be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents. They will be asked to provide a blood sample and consent to access their medical records, a process that can be transformative for some families.

“We actually map out every single person in that family who has been affected by heart disease, what age they were affected, if they've died, what age they died, and when we hand that back to the families who we've practised with, the children will say to us ‘I did not know the risk was that bad, I am so much more motivated to go and get my health checked now’,” Narayan says.

Photo/File

She hopes to leverage her research to develop gene-based improvements in screening, diagnosis, and treatment options.

“It will also help Fijian New Zealanders understand their risk of heart disease and give them the chance to access potentially life-saving medicines, such as blood-pressure lowering medicines, or statins to reduce their cholesterol levels, before any damage to their heart occurs.”

The genetic research may contribute to the development of prevention strategies for other ethnic groups, such as Melanesian and South Asian populations.

For more information or to register your interest for the study, click here.