In a study published by an international team of researchers in the journal Nature Genetics, they revealed that they have identified new genes that are associated with an increased risk of a type of heart attack primarily affecting young to middle-aged women.

The study showed that the researchers had identified 16 genes that increased the risk of SCAD (spontaneous coronary artery dissection). SCAD is common in women under the age of 60 and is a leading cause of heart attacks around the time of pregnancy.

SCAD is caused by a bruise or bleed in the wall of a coronary artery, which shuts off blood flow to a portion of the heart, resulting in a heart attack. In the study, the researchers offered a genome-wide meta-analysis of 1,917 cases of SCAD and 9,292 controls based on the data collected from the European ancestry register.

The findings revealed that the 16 genes are involved in mechanisms that control how cells and connective tissue keep together, as well as how blood clots when tissues bleed. Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that several genes associated with an increased risk of SCAD are also associated with an increased risk of traditional coronary artery disease (CAD). 

(Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-reveals-underlying-genetic-heart-largely.html )