Objectives: In this study we analyzed the occurrence of ischemic brain stroke in Northern Poland in regard to risk factors.
Design and methods: 131 ischemic stroke patients and 64 controls were studied. Analyzed risk factors included conventional risk factors, total plasma homocysteine level and polymorphisms of the main enzymes of homocysteine metabolism-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (polymorphisms C677T and A1298C) and cystathionine beta synthase (polymorphism T833C).
Results: We confirmed the occurrence of a number of conventional risk factors in ischemic stroke. We found that hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor (p=0.0001). Plasma homocysteine correlated inversely with plasma vitamin B(6). We also found a relationship between C677T polymorphism type and hyperhomocysteinemia (p=0.0266).
Conclusions: The occurrence of studied polymorphisms in the population of northern Poland was higher than reported previously for similar populations. However, none of the studied genetic factors were found to be significant risk factors in ischemic brain stroke.