Draw up an accurate family tree, and use it to protect your heart.

When St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile died of a heart attack in 2002 at age 33, teammates and fans were stunned. But the tragedy was perhaps less shocking in light of Kile’s family health history. The baseball star’s father had died after a stroke at age 44 — a strong indication that heredity predisposed Darryl to a similar risk.

Researchers are closing in on two kinds of cardiovascular threat lurking in the biological blueprints contributing to such premature losses. One is the set of genetic mistakes that directly cause heart and vessel disease. Other quirks in the genetic code heighten human vulnerability to risk factors like high blood pressure or…

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