title: Association of Family History With Cardiovascular Disease in Hypertensive Individuals in a Multiethnic Population.
abstract: Hypertension alone is a poor predictor of the individual risk of cardiovascular disease. Hereditary factors of which hypertension is merely a marker may explain why some hypertensive individuals appear more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, and why some ethnicities have more often seemingly hypertension-related cardiovascular disease than others. We hypothesize that, in hypertensive individuals, a positive family history of cardiovascular disease identifies a high-risk subpopulation.
  
  
  
  Healthy Life in Urban Settings (HELIUS) is a cohort study among participants of Dutch, South-Asian Surinamese, African Surinamese, Ghanaian, Turkish, and Moroccan origin aged 70 years and younger. In participants with hypertension (n=6467), we used logistic regression to assess the association of family history of cardiovascular disease with prevalent stroke and nonstroke cardiovascular disease, adjusting for sex, age, education, and smoking. To detect ethnic differences, we tested for interaction between family history and ethnicity and stratified the analysis by ethnicity. A positive family history was associated with a higher prevalence of nonstroke cardiovascular disease (odds ratio [OR], 2.05; 95% CI, 1.65-2.54) and stroke (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.19-2.20). The strongest association of family history with nonstroke cardiovascular disease was found among the Dutch (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.37-4.44) and with stroke among the African Surinamese (OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.32-3.57). The interaction between family history and African Surinamese origin for stroke was statistically significant.
  
  
  
  In multiethnic populations of hypertensive patients, a positive family history of cardiovascular disease may be used clinically to identify individuals at high risk for nonstroke cardiovascular disease regardless of ethnic origin and African Surinamese individuals at high risk for stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.|Department of Cardiology, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valerio
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ron J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Aeilko H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Zwinderman
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Medicine, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands s.j.pinto@amc.uva.nl.|Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sara-Joan
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Pinto-Sietsma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HELIUS study; cardiovascular diseases; cerebrovascular disease/stroke; hypertension; race and ethnicity