THURSDAY, June 6, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- A genetic abnormality that affects how the body processes cholesterol could quadruple the stroke risk for young adults, says a study in the June issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers at the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute at Boston University School of Medicine compared blood samples of 118 men and women under age 45 who had ischemic, or clot-related, strokes to blood samples from 118 stroke-free men and women of similar age. The researchers focused on two types of sequence variations, called polymorphisms, in the PON1 gene.
One polymorphism was at position 192 and one at position 55 on the PON1 gene.
PON1 stands for paraoxonase, an enzyme that helps HDL (good) cholesterol prevent the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol. LDL oxidation promotes heart and blood vessel disease.
Comparing the stroke and non-stroke groups, the researchers found no difference in the frequency of the 55 polymorphism. But the 192 polymorphism was found much more often in the stroke patients.
After accounting for other risk factors, the researchers determined the presence of the 192 polymorphism increased the risk of stroke by a factor of 4.10 compared to people without that genetic abnormality.
If these findings are confirmed in larger studies, the PON1 polymorphism may prove to be a valuable genetic marker that can be used to screen a person's risk for stroke, the researchers say.
More information
You can get a complete package of information on stroke from the National Stroke Association.
