Smartphone App Can Help Detect Genetic Risk for Heart Attacks

Researchers from Scripps Research Institute developed a new app called MyGeneRank that can predict the genetic risk for heart attacks along with information from 23andMe.

The researchers detailed how the app works in a study published in npj Digital Medicine.

Users can connect their 23andMe information to the MyGeneRank app using an iPhone or Android smartphone. After syncing the data, the app calculates the user's risk score for a heart attack based on the latest genetic risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). One year later, the app follows up, asking the user questions about their use of lipid-lowering medications.

To examine the app's efficacy, researchers gathered information from 721 people who used the app.

Results showed that patients who did not take lipid-lowering medication before receiving information from the app began to do so after receiving their genetic risk score. Those at high risk for a heart attack were about 1.4 times more likely to report using a statin lipid-lowering drug and nearly four times more likely to report using a non-statin lipid-lowering drug at follow-up.  

About 18 million American adults have coronary artery disease (CAD), which often leads to a heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But utilization of drugs that reduce bloodstream levels of cholesterol and lipids is low. Of the 10 percent of women and 50 percent of men who are somewhat at risk for CAD, only one-third take prescriptions.

“We now have the opportunity to integrate a person’s genetics into their cardiovascular health assessment to help them better understand their individualized risk and empower them to make the necessary modifications – including the addition of statin therapy - to their risk factor optimization plans,” said first author Evan Muse, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and lead for cardiovascular genomics at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, in the press release.

The utilization of smartphone apps is becoming more frequent in healthcare.  

For example, a study published in March describes an app called eKidneyCare for patients with chronic kidney disease. The app aims to boost medication adherence for patients in a convenient and accessible manner.

Smartphone apps also proved to be helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. A March 2020 study describes the development of an app that uses artificial intelligence to identify patients at risk for COVID-19.

Another recent study describes the use of a mHealth app for self-administered screenings. This app is accessible from the patient's home and can identify if one is at risk for depression, an injurious fall, or intimate partner violence.