A Family Trait: Stroke

From studying identical twins we are learning more about the nature of stroke – how it runs in a family. This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. There are several risk factors for stroke, the best known being the presence of high blood pressure. According to the American Heart Association, hypertension raises the risk for stroke two to four times above normal. One study published by the American Heart Association showed that individuals with an identical twin who had a stroke had a five times higher risk of having a stroke themselves. This was the conclusion of a Yale University based research team which studied over 9,000 male twins. To get to these twins, the research team turned to the National Academy of Science – National Research Council Twin Registry, which includes almost 16,000 pairs of twins born from 1917 to 1927. Using this database, the team was able to compare the rate for stroke in both monozygotic or “identical” twins or dizygotic or “fraternal” twins to help clarify the role genetic similarities make.

We cannot change our genes, but by realizing that there can be a familiar component in stroke we could encourage family members to modify their behavior that increases the risk for stroke. Things like smoking cigarettes or leaving high blood pressure uncontrolled could be more likely to trigger a stroke in people genetically predisposed to having them. For a copy of this script and journal reference, access our web site, www.speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis for CBS News.