Scientists have discovered that a common cause of sudden heart death has been misunderstood because researchers didn't appropriately account for racial differences in their studies.
The findings, published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine,have implications far beyond this particular inherited disease, called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM. Researchers say the results also sound a cautionary note for many other illnesses that have been identified through genetic markers.
HCM gained attention in the 1980s after several seemingly healthy athletes, including the rising basketball talent, Hank Gathers, suddenly died from it. Scientists had figured out that the propensity for developing HCM is passed along as a genetic trait; the condition affects about one in 500 Americans.
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