Genetic Test May Reveal Stroke Risk At Birth
Can genetics help predict a person's risk of a stroke from birth?
An international team of researchers believes so. They have created a genetic risk score based on results from a simple blood or saliva test, which they claim can identify people at high risk for ischemic stroke, one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide.
The researchers' findings were published on Friday in the journal Nature Communications.
"For common diseases, such as stroke, it is clear that genetics is not destiny," co-author Michael Inouye of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom said in a statement. "However, each person has a unique innate risk for any given disease.
The challenge now is to integrate risk information into clinical practice to improve public health and longevity.Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with approximately 80% of strokes being "ischemic" - that is, caused by a blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Genetic and environmental factors influence a person's risk of having an ischemic stroke, and those with high blood pressure or diabetes are more susceptible.
In the new study, the researchers used machine learning to combine stroke-related genetic data from various sources into a single genetic risk score. The researchers evaluated the new risk score using genetic data from over 400,000 people in the UK Biobank, a patient data collection for research purposes.
The authors discovered that their new score outperformed previously tested rating systems while performing similarly to other well-known risk factors for stroke, such as smoking status or body mass index. Most notably, the new genetic risk score outperformed family history in predicting future ischemic stroke, detecting approximately one in every 400 individuals who are three times more likely to develop the condition.
The authors suggest that genomic risk prediction for ischemic stroke, based on an individual's unique DNA sequence, outperforms established risk factors. Because it can be used to predict risk at birth, co-author Martin Dichgans, Director of the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research at Ludwig-Maximilians University Hospital in Munich, believes it may enable the implementation of preventive strategies before individuals develop conventional risk factors such as high blood pressure.
The study's findings also suggest that current clinical guidelines may be ineffective for people with a high genetic risk of stroke, and that these people may require more intensive interventions, the authors wrote.
