title: Factor V Leiden is not responsible for stroke in patients with sickling disorders and is uncommon in African Americans with sickle cell disease.
abstract: Cerebrovascular accidents in patients with sickle cell anemia are among the most devastating complications of the disease. It has recently been demonstrated that some patients have a hypercoagulable state on the basis of the presence of an abnormal factor V molecule, factor V Leiden. We undertook this study to evaluate the presence of factor V Leiden in sickle cell patients with stroke. Eighty-two patients with either Hgb SS, Hgb SC, or Hgb S(beta+)-thalassemia comprised the study population. Of the 82 patients in the study, 19 of them had a history of stroke. In our study population, none of the stroke patients possessed the factor V Leiden mutation. One of the non-stroke patients was a heterozygote for the mutation (P = 1.00). The overall frequency of the factor V Leiden allele in our population is 0.6%. The estimated prevalence for this mutation is reportedly between 3 and 7% in Caucasian populations. We conclude that the gene frequency for factor V Leiden is less common in Africa Americans with sickle cell disease. Furthermore, factor V Leiden does not appear to be responsible for the development of stroke in sickle cell patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Schools of Medicine and Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University Medical Center, and the Southeastern Louisiana Sickle Cell Center, New Orleans, USA.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rozans
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Michaels
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leissinger
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krause
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D001778:Blood Coagulation Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005165:Factor V / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male
chemical_list: C095381:factor V Leiden; D005165:Factor V