FREQUENCY OF FAMILIAL DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY

Based on evaluation of 59 probands and their families, we previously d emonstrated that over 20% of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomy opathy (DCM) have familial disease. We acquired 36 additional probands and found familial disease in 24.2% of the 95 probands in this expand ed consecutively ascertained cohort. The family history, as reported b y the patient and relatives is often an unreliable indicator of famili al disease because patients may be unaware of the significance of a fa mily history of sudden death, arrhythmia or stroke. We demonstrate tha t careful family history with review of medical records identifies mor e familial cases than merely asking the patient if there is a family h istory of DCM. However, even such a careful family history does not id entify, all familial cases Some familial cases are identified only by echocardiographic investigation of asymptomatic relatives. We found no clinical attributes of probands other than family history, which pred icted familial disease.