23andMe Adds Health Community Page on HCM

23andMe announced that 23andMe Health + Ancestry Service customers can access a new Health Community page focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common form of inherited heart disease. 

The new HCM Health Community page offers customers information and resources on this condition, which in most cases is caused by genetic variants that make the heart contract too much. As a result, the heart muscle becomes thickened and stiff, which can make it less efficient at pumping blood.

The Mayo Clinic says that signs and symptoms of HCM may include one or more of the following: shortness of breath, especially during exercise; chest pain, especially during exercise; fainting, especially during or just after exercise or exertion; sensation of rapid, fluttering, or pounding heartbeats (palpitations); or heart murmur.

As with all Health Community pages, the information isn’t based on genetic data. It instead incorporates survey answers from 23andMe research participants to provide more information about the condition, HCM research and statistics, and links to other resources.

The HCM community page is part of a collaboration between 23andMe and MyoKardia to advance research into HCM. While MyoKardia is sponsoring the page, 23andMe is responsible for its final content. 23AndMe is committed to providing their customers with scientifically and medically unbiased information about health conditions.

As part of the collaboration, 23andMe has launched a customer survey intended to collect baseline and follow-up longitudinal data from those who choose to participate. The survey will reach more than 9,000 23andMe customers who have self-reported an HCM diagnosis.

23andMe researchers, along with researchers from MyoKardia, intend to study this set of de-identified, population-scale phenotypic and genotypic data to gain unique insights into this condition for the purposes of understanding the patient experience and genetic prevalence of HCM.

The HCM Health Community page is one of 19 Health Community pages, which cover conditions including depression, Parkinson’s disease, migraine, insomnia, endometriosis, and more.

Related Articles on FamilyTree.com:

23andMe Genetic Risk Report for TTR-Related Amyloidosis

23andMe Offers Genetic Risk Report on Type 2 Diabetes

23andMe Provides Information About Breast Cancer Genes