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A recent study has found that fainting runs in families. People who faint at the sight of blood or following a shock could have other people in their family with the same reaction in similar situations. 

The researchers studied 51 identical and non-identical sets of twins (at least one of whom had a history of fainting) and found fainting has a strong genetic component, according to Telegraph.

Fainting, defined as a person losing consciousness momentarily in response to an emotional distress (normally), happens in some people more often than others. A person could faint while encountering a certain situation and the same event might not affect others at all. 

The study suggests a phenomenon wherein a person faints in a certain situation or not, depends a lot on their genetic make-up.

"The question of whether fainting is caused by genetic factors, environmental factors or a mixture of both has been the subject of debate," study author Dr Samuel Berkovic, of the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology was quoted as saying by Telegraph.

Another revelation of the study was that identical twins were likelier to faint due to traditional factors, such as the sight of blood.

Whereas, in case of non-identical twins, it was found that there was little connection with fainting. This, according to them, suggests that fainting is inheritable and the relevance and existence of it in people could be complex. 

"Our results suggest that while fainting appears to have a strong genetic component, there may be multiple genes and multiple environmental factors that influence the phenomenon," Berkovic said.

The study was published in the journal Neurology.