Blood test could predict who is most at risk from heart condition

Scientists are developing a simple blood test to predict who is most at risk from the world's most common inherited heart condition.

- Andrew Gregory Health editor

Millions of people worldwide have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease of the heart muscle where the wall of the heart becomes thickened. It is caused by a change in one or more genes and mostly passed on through families.

Some with the condition have few or no symptoms. But others can suffer heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms, which can lead to a cardiac arrest. There is no cure and doctors do not know who is most at risk.