NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Italian researchers report that firstborn children have a higher risk of heart disease and a higher risk of cardiovascular death than their siblings.

Dr. Maurizio Ferratini of the Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi in Milan presented his team's findings Wednesday at the American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Scientific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii. In the study of 348 coronary heart disease patients admitted to their institution during a 30-month period, nearly half (46.7%) of the patients were firstborn, Ferratini reported. In contrast, about 29.3% of the population of Italy in general are firstborn, as opposed to being somewhere else in the sibling lineup.

There was no difference between the firstborn and other siblings with regard to cardiovascular risk factors, such as age, gender, family history of coronary heart disease, cigarette smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure. In fact, Ferratini noted, the firstborn had a lower incidence of smoking than their siblings.

Being firstborn carried a 27% increase in risk of cardiovascular death compared with other children in the birth order, Ferratini told Reuters Health.

"We know that firstborns are different from their siblings in health, behavior, psychology, school achievement and personality," Ferratini said. "These differences may influence other health factors.... For example, more firstborn have type A personalities...this may influence risk of heart disease."

He pointed out that this personality trait has been linked to coronary heart disease and an increased risk of cardiovascular death.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".