Unravelling the genetics of ischaemic stroke.

Epidemiological studies suggest genetic predisposition is important in stroke risk. \nMonogenic conditions are important for the individual patient but do not account for much population attributable risk. An increasing number of such conditions are being described, particularly for the small vessel disease stroke subtype. \nThe candidate genes approach has proved disappointing in identifying genes contributing to the risk of multifactorial or polygenic stroke. This is a situation shared with other complex diseases. \nRecently the GWAS (genome-wide association study) approach has identified genetic loci for many other cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, and is just being applied to stroke. Some novel genetic variants initially associated with other cardiovascular diseases have recently been identified as risk factors in stroke populations.

Abstract licence: CC BY

40 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.