CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE (CAD): INTERPLAY OF NUTRITION, SERUM PARAMETERS AND GENETICS

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. The death rate is decreasing in developed countries due to awareness, but the disease burden is increasing in developing countries. Pakistan is a country with high prevalence of CAD. The serum lipids have long been implicated in the development of CAD by the deposition of mainly LDL on endothelial lining resulting in atherosclerosis. Progression to CAD involves environmental as well as genetic factors. The genetic component is due to the contribution from various low to modest effect size variants in many genes. Common variants have been used to construct a genetic risk score (GRS) to calculate the risk of future CAD. In conclusion, lifestyle interventions in concert with the knowledge of genetic predisposition based on family history and use of population data may one day lead to the development of personalized medicine for the treatment and prevention of CAD.