Vascular Genetic Variants and Ischemic Stroke Susceptibility in Albanians from the Republic of Macedonia.

Background: Acute first-ever ischemic stroke (FIS) is a heterogeneous, polygenic disorder. The contribution of vascular genetic variants as inherited causes of ischemic stroke has remained controversial.

Aim: To examine the association of genetic variants in vascular factors with the occurrence of FIS.

Material And Methods: The current research was performed in a group of 39 patients with FIS (study group) and 102 healthy volunteers (control group). We analyzed the prevalence of vascular genetic variants in following genes: and .

Results: It was found that heterozygous and were significantly more frequent in patients with FIS than in control group (p = 0.036 and p = 0.017, respectively). The frequency of was significantly lower in patients with FIS than in control group (p = 0.020). Other frequencies of vascular gene variants in patients with FIS and in control group were not significantly different.

Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive study to present data indicating that polymorphism of vascular genes in the prevalence of acute FIS exists in the Albanian population from the Republic of Macedonia. Variations in these genes have been detected in patients with acute FIS, suggesting that their combination might act in a susceptible or protective manner in this Albanian population.