Stroke Risk Runs in Female Family History

Ivanhoe Newswire
Tuesday, December 26, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If you are female and your mother or sister has had a stroke then your risk for stroke is greater, according to a new study. The research reveals this true only in women.

Genetics is known to play a role when it comes to having an ischemic stroke. However, it's been unclear how much is genetic and how much of the risk comes from environmental factors. Researchers from Radcliffe Infirmary in the United Kingdom looked at the sex of patients and their risk of stroke based on history of stroke in their family.

Researchers used data from a population-based study, which assessed all incidents of stroke in more than 91,000 people from 63 family physicians. Study authors found women are more likely than men to have a history of stroke in mothers than in fathers and in sisters than in brothers. Plus, they found the age a patient had their first stroke correlated with the age of a stroke in mothers but not in fathers.

Study authors say this research shows a strong female connection in families when it comes to the risk of having a stroke. They feel a family history of a female first-degree relative is an important indicator of an increased risk of stroke in women.

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SOURCE: The Lancet Neurology, published online December 22, 2006