The β-fibrinogen-455G/A gene polymorphism and the risk of ischaemic stroke in a Polish population

Background and purpose: Ischaemic stroke is considered to be multifactorial and interactions between environmental and genetic factors play an important role. Although vascular risk factors are well known, the genetic ones are still undiscovered. In the present study, we assessed the significance of the beta-fibrinogen -455G/A gene polymorphism and the risk of ischaemic stroke in a Polish population. Material and methods: 426 ischaemic stroke patients classified according to stroke aetiologies (small vessel disease, large vessel disease or cardioembolic stroke) and 234 controls were included in the study. The association of the beta-fibrinogen genotypes with ischaemic stroke was tested using logistic regression analysis under dominant, recessive or additive models of inheritance. Results: The allele and genotype distributions of the beta-fibrinogen -455G/A gene polymorphism did not differ significantly between patients and controls (patients: G - 75%, GG - 56.6%, GA - 36.8%, AA - 6.6%; controls: G - 73.7%, GG - 57.3%, GA - 32.9%, AA - 9.8%; p > 0.05, chi(2)). In addition, logistic regression analysis adjusted for the known risk factors, i.e. hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus and smoking, did not show a role of the studied polymorphism in ischaemic stroke. Conclusions: The beta-fibrinogen -455G/A gene polymorphism is not a risk factor for ischaemic stroke in a Polish population.