Causes of Cardiomyopathy

What are some causes of cardiomyopathy?
Heart damage as a result of the heart not receiving enough oxygen from either a personal history of coronary artery disease or previous heart attack is the most common cause of cardiomyopathy in the United States. However, there are many other ways that a heart can be damaged such that an individual is at risk to develop a cardiomyopathy. A personal history of a viral infection, high blood pressure, alcoholism, drug abuse and the use of certain chemotherapies have each been identified as risk factors for developing a cardiomyopathy. In addition, individuals with certain medical conditions may also be predisposed to develop a cardiomyopathy such as diseases involving the thyroid, hemochromatosis, amyloidosis or certain forms of muscular dystrophies or enzyme diseases.

Sometimes an individual with cardiomyopathy is told that they have “an idiopathic” form of cardiomyopathy. This means that the health care professionals do not know why you developed cardiomyopathy. Approximately 35-50% of individuals who are diagnosed with “idiopathic cardiomyopathy” will actually have a familial form of the condition. Familial means that there is a predisposition, or tendency, for individuals in the same family to develop cardiomyopathy. Some families may refer to a familial condition as something that “runs” in their family. There are several familial or inherited causes for each type of cardiomyopathy. Although all of the exact causes for familial cardiomyopathy are not yet known, we know that it can be “inherited” or “passed down” from a parent to a child. We also know that individuals within the same family may experience different symptoms and/or develop a cardiomyopathy or arrhythmia at very different ages.