Research could lead to potential new ways to predict and prevent strokes in young adults.
A person’s blood type may be linked to their risk of having an early stroke, according to a new meta-analysis of research. The meta-analysis included all available data from genetic studies focusing on ischemic strokes, which are caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain, occurring in younger adults under age 60.
The study was led by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers, and the findings were published on August 31, 2022, in the journal Neurology.
“The number of people with early strokes is rising. These people are more likely to die from the life-threatening event, and survivors potentially face decades with disability.
“The number of people with early strokes is rising. These people are more likely to die from the life-threatening event, and survivors potentially face decades with disability.
Despite this, there is little research on the causes of early strokes,” said study co-principal investigator Steven J. Kittner, MD, MPH. He is a Professor of Neurology at UMSOM and a neurologist with the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Kittner and his colleagues conducted the study by performing a meta-analysis of 48 studies on genetics and ischemic stroke that included 17,000 stroke patients and nearly 600,000 healthy controls who never had experienced a stroke.
Kittner and his colleagues conducted the study by performing a meta-analysis of 48 studies on genetics and ischemic stroke that included 17,000 stroke patients and nearly 600,000 healthy controls who never had experienced a stroke.
They then scrutinized all collected chromosomes to identify genetic variants associated with a stroke. They discovered a link between early-onset stroke – occurring before age 60 – and the area of the chromosome that includes the gene that determines whether a blood type is A, AB, B, or O. READ MORE...
