Von Willebrand factor, fibrinogen and other risk factors of thrombosis in patients with a history of cerebrovascular ischemic stroke and their children.
OBJECTIVE
Von Willebrand factor (vWF) and fibrinogen (Fb) have recently emerged as plausible familial determinants of atherothrombosis. We investigated whether the vWF and Fb levels in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular stroke (ICS) correlate with those in their children.


RESULTS
The study group consisted of 28 families (56 parents and 34 children) with one parent who had suffered an ICS at least three months before the study. All of the ICS patients had hyperlipoproteinemia and most arterial hypertension. The control group consisted of 15 families (30 parents and 20 children). The age of the parents and children did not exceed 55 and 16 years. The ICS parents had significantly higher vWF, Fb and protein C (PC) levels than the controls (vWF--fathers: 121.0 +/- 42.5% vs 79.2 +/- 23.4%; vWF--mothers: 110.7 +/- 40.1% vs 82.4 +/- 20.9%; Fb--fathers: 4.12 +/- 0.74 g/L vs 3.01 +/- 0.54 g/L; Fb--mothers: 3.64 +/- 0.84 gL vs 2.98 +/- 0.35 g/L; PC--fathers: 116.0 +/- 12.3% vs 105.6 +/- 13.7%; PC--mothers: 114.4 +/- 15.8% vs 105.0 +/- 12.2%). The children of the ICS parents had significantly higher PC and body mass index (BMI) values than the controls (PC: 102.6 +/- 13.7% vs 92.7 +/- 10.7%; BMI: 20.6 +/- 3.8 vs 17.8 +/- 3.5 Kg/m2), as well as an atherogenic lipid profile, higher blood pressure (BP) and a tendency toward higher vWF levels. Correlations between the ICS parents and their children were found for vWF, factor VIIc, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and BP, which were closer in the case of fathers.


CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of gender, the parents with a history of ICS had a procoagulant state, with high levels of vWF, Fb and PC. In terms of inheritance, the most adverse risk factor profile was found in the children of ICS fathers.
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000032:analysis*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000032:analysis*
D015415:Biomarkers; D014841:von Willebrand Factor; D005340:Fibrinogen