Statistics

[RJG]

My son, now age 17, was diagnosed with HCM in 2001, arrested 3 times has a defib implant.
Just wondering about stats indicating the likely hood of how he came upon the disease. If it was a hereditary situation and came from one of the parents....what are the chances of that parent developing the disease and at what age? What percentage of carriers never show signs of the disease? If you do get it later in life is it generally less severe? What are the chances of his 2 younger siblings developing HCM? All, including the parents have been checked with echos and show no bad signs. I look forward to your response.
Thanks

[Reenie]

It's very likely that one of his parents carries the gene mutation that causes HCM. It's unlikely, but not impossible, that one of you carries the gene and won't show clinical HCM. The only way to know for positive is to have his mutation identified through genetic testing and to then test family members. At this point I would assume that one of you has the mutation and that any other children, his siblings, would have a 50% chance of developing HCM. It does seem that people with HCM who are diagnosed at a younger age have more symptoms than those diagnosed at an older age, but I'm not sure there are any statistics to support that. If there are I can't tell you where to look. I hope this helps.

Reenie