New research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, found that a common genetic variation makes some people more susceptible to coronary heart disease (CHD). Caucasians who carry this gene variation are approximately 1.5 times more likely to have a CHD event, such as a heart attack, than those who do not have the gene variation. Gene variations are also known as polymorphisms. About 15 percent of all Caucasians have this particular polymorphism.
