Genetic testing trifecta predicts risk of sudden cardiac death and arrhythmia: Study

In a new Northwestern Medicine study, scientists have developed a more precise genetic risk score to determine whether a person is likely to develop arrhythmia , an irregular heartbeat that can lead to serious conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AFib) or sudden cardiac death .

Their approach not only improves the accuracy of heart disease risk prediction but also offers a comprehensive framework for genetic testing that, according to the scientists, could be applied to anything, including other complex, genetically influenced diseases like cancer , Parkinson’s Disease and autism .

“It’s a very cool approach in which we are combining rare gene variants with common gene variants and then adding in non-coding genome information. To our knowledge, no one has used this compr