Researchers from Duke University Medical Center, led by Svati Shah and Elizabeth Hauser, found evidence for six related variations in the NPY gene that show evidence of transmission from generation to generation and association across a population of early-onset coronary artery disease patients.

The researchers evaluated 1,000 families for coronary artery disease or evidence of a true heart attack, as part of the GENECARD study put together by the Duke University Cardiology Consortium -- an independent, non-familial study used a collection of samples of nearly everyone who had an angiogram at Duke since 2001.

The findings, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, show a strong relationship between the NPY genetic variants associated with coronary disease.

The genetic results were even stronger in patients with onset of coronary artery disease before the age of 37.

"We showed a strong age effect," Hauser said in a statement. "If one has the NPY gene variants in one of two copies -- from mother and father -- then you may develop coronary disease earlier."