Researchers from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology found that stroke rates and the health problems that increased stroke risk differed depending on where one lives, his/her ethnicity, and genes.
Published Jul 19, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 19, 2024 | 12:51 PM
India has been seeing an alarming rise in non-communicable diseases, like stroke, in the recent years. (Creative Commons)
Stroke, a leading cause of disability and the second deadliest condition worldwide, doesn’t strike equally, a study has found.
It also revealed a surprising fact: Stroke rates, survival chances, and long-term effects differ significantly depending on where one lives, ethnicity, and even genes.
This path-breaking research suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach to stroke prevention and treatment may not be enough, paving the way for more targeted strategies to combat this devastating condition.
A group of researchers from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and the Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, conducted the study.
The study, “Ethnic and Region-Specific Genetic Risk Variants of Stroke and its Comorbid Conditions Can Define the Variations in the Burden of Stroke and its Phenotypic Traits,” was published by eLife, a science publisher for the biomedical and life sciences. The researchers stated that stroke risk was not the same everywhere.
image courtesy – CDC
They found that stroke rates and the health problems that increased stroke risk differed depending on where one lives, his/her ethnicity, and genes.
The study looked at data from 204 countries over 10 years.
It analysed stroke rates, death rates from stroke, and common health issues linked to stroke risks, like high blood pressure and diabetes. It also considered genetic variations that could influence health risks.
In America and Europe, conditions like diabetes and obesity seemed to play a bigger role. In Asia and Africa, high blood pressure appeared to be a more significant factor.
The researchers also found that genes linked to stroke risk varied depending on ethnicity. It suggested that different populations might have unique vulnerabilities to stroke.
The research could lead to more targeted stroke prevention strategies. Doctors and public health officials could develop better prevention plans for each population by understanding the specific risk factors in different regions and ethnicities.
Lead author Moinak Banerjee said mortality in stroke, its subtypes, and their comorbid conditions have a strong ethnic bias.
“Genetics act as surrogate markers for ethno-geographic indices. It is important to understand which comorbid conditions are influenced by socio-economic indices, and how they impact the risk of stroke and their underlying genetic basis,” the study noted.
The researchers sought to know why stroke affected people differently around the world.
They suspected several factors might be involved, including other health problems people might have (comorbid conditions) and their ethnicity.
Since genes could reflect both ethnicity and a person’s risk for certain diseases, the researchers looked at data on stroke, other health problems, and genetic variations across different regions and ethnicities over 10 years.
Their goal was to understand how these factors influence stroke burden and use the knowledge to develop better prevention strategies tailored to specific regions and ethnicities.
Image courtesy – WHO
The study highlighted that it was pertinent to understand the stroke risk from an ethnic viewpoint, beyond the boundaries of socio-economic criteria, as the drivers of comorbid risk and ethnicity rely on genetic and epigenetic components.
“Stroke has a complex etiology, which is further influenced by its comorbid conditions and this impacts its phenotypic variability. A strong genetic risk drives both stroke and its comorbid conditions,” the study said.
“Genetic risk variants for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, diabetic retinopathies and nephropathies, hypertension, inflammation, and kidney diseases have been reportedly shown to have strong ethnogenetic variation,” it added.
Based on the findings, the study highlighted that fluctuations in the genetic structure of stroke and its comorbid conditions signified the impact of ethnic variations on mortality and prevalence rates.
“Stroke accounts for approximately 20% of deaths in diabetics. Diabetics and pre-diabetics, and the duration of diabetes have been reported to have an increased risk of stroke, which gets aggravated in African-Americans. As stroke and its comorbid conditions are heavily influenced by lifestyle, high-income countries showed evidence of metabolic disorders being the major cause of concern for both prevalence and mortality,” the study further stated.
The study has been considered to be significant as it might pave the way for more personalised stroke prevention.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a stroke, sometimes called a brain attack, occurs when something blocks blood supply to part of the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
In either case, parts of the brain become damaged or die. A stroke could cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, or even death.
(Edited by Majnu Babu)
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