Heritability of Ischemic Stroke in Relation to Age, Vascular Risk Factors, and Subtypes of Incident Stroke in Population-Based Studies

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Abstract
Background— Appropriate design of molecular genetic studies of ischemic stroke requires an understanding of the genetic epidemiology of stroke. However, there are no published population-based data on heritability of aetiological subtypes of ischemic stroke, confounding by heritability of other vascular risk factors, or the relationship between heritability and age of onset. Methods— We studied family history of stroke (FHxStroke) and of myocardial infarction (FHxMI) in first-degree relatives in 2 population-based studies (Oxford Vascular Study [OXVASC]; Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project [OCSP]). We related FHxStroke and FHxMI to subtype of ischemic stroke, age, and the presence of vascular risk factors and performed a systematic review of all studies of FHxStroke by stroke subtype. Results— In our population-based studies and in 3 hospital-based studies, FHxStroke was least frequent in cardioembolic stroke (OR=0.74, 95%CI=0.58 to 0.95, P=0.02) but was equally frequent in the other subtypes. In OXVASC ...