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Men with a defective gene associated with high blood pressure are almost twice as likely to die after a heart attack, an Otago University study has found.
The three-year study of 1075 people found that men were more likely to die if they had a defective ACE2 gene.
The gene, which controls blood pressure in its normal form, causes it to increase when defective.
Lead researcher Barry Palmer said the link to high blood pressure had been known for some time.
"But our research has also clearly linked one variant of this gene to a greater likelihood of mortality after heart attacks.
"This is particularly in middle aged males who have acute coronary syndromes, or reduced flow of blood to the heart," he said.
Men were more prone to the effects of the defective gene because it occurred only on the X chromosome, meaning they did not have a second copy that could compensate for it like women.
The discovery would be useful for research into tailoring heart disease treatment to patients, Dr Palmer said.
"If we can identify those people at greater risk we may be able to do more earlier on in their treatment, and it's easy enough to identify if someone has this variant of the gene."
Heart disease and heart attacks are a main cause of death in New Zealand.
About 30,000 people are admitted to hospitals every year with heart problems.
- NZPA