Association of parental history of stroke with clinical parameters in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Background and Purpose: Data regarding hereditary influences on stroke remain controversial. We investigated possible associations of a family history of stroke with clinical parameters in a large cohort of well-documented patients with ischemic cerebrovascular events, with special reference to sex-specific differences.
Methods: We analyzed the association between a maternal and/or paternal history of stroke and clinical parameters in 1564 patients with known maternal and paternal history of stroke and suffering from ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack within the Vienna Stroke Registry.
Results: Patients with a maternal history of stroke were significantly more often female (54%) than those without (44%; P=0.003). Hypertension was more prevalent in female patients with than in those without a maternal history of stroke (87% versus 74%; P=0.001). These associations remained significant after multivariate adjustment (adjusted odds ratio, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.5; P=0.024). Of those female patients with an echocardiogram (n=225), those with a maternal history of stroke more often had left ventricular hypertrophy (48%) than those without (20%) (adjusted odds ratio, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.5 to 8.2; P=0.003). In contrast, hypertension was equally prevalent in male patients with or without a maternal history of stroke (75% versus 74%; P=0.754). We found no significant associations of clinical parameters with a paternal history of stroke.
Conclusions: Our results indicate a sex-specific relationship between a maternal history of stroke and the prevalence of hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy in female patients with ischemic cerebrovascular events.