Background and purpose: The classical risk factors did not explain all the possible etiology of cerebral stroke. Genetic polymorphisms responsible for thrombophilia were implicated recently as risk factors of stroke. In this genetico-epidemiological study the author's aim was to analyse the tendency of genetic polymorphisms to cluster in a cohort of young and elderly stroke patients and in healthy subjects in Hungary.
Methods: 253 patients with stroke were compared with 173 healthy blood donors on the basis of genetic polymorphisms of platelet GP IIb/IIIa receptor (33 LeuPro), prothrombin gene G20210A, Factor V Leiden mutation, ACE I/D, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and beta fibrinogen gene G455A. These data were acquired using PCR. Questionnaires were used to investigate the family history and to determine the risk factor profile. The subtypes of stroke were analysed in a stroke cohort grouped according to different polymorphisms.
Results: An increased frequency of GP IIIa heterozygosity was found as compared to a West-European stroke cohort (31% versus 19%). The prothrombin gene variant (2.9% European and 4.8% in Hungary) was also found to increase in frequency. In young stroke patients (age < 50) compared with control subjects the odds ratios were higher: in prothrombin gene (OR: 4.9), in Leiden mutation (OR: 1.67), in fibrinogen gene (OR: 1.64) and in MTHFR(+/+) (OR: 1.58). Clustering of two polymorphisms could only be detected in young patients. These clustering polymorphisms were GP IIb/IIIa with prothrombin G20210A variant (OR: 6.74, 95% CI 1.1-18.2) and prothrombin gene variant with MTHFR (OR: 5.3, CI95 1.2-8.3).
Conclusion: Selected and clustered genetic polymorphisms of haemostatic factors could be responsible for the high stroke morbidity in Central Europe. The presence and clustering tendency of these factors have been described in young stroke victims.