Background: Family history may help in risk stratification, especially in the young. This study assesses the predictive value of a positive family history of cardiovascular disease for myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke (IS).
Methods/results: The RATIO study case-control study includes women with MI (N = 248), IS (N = 203) and 925 healthy matched controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated with logistic regression. The risk of MI was almost fourfold increased in women with a family history positive for MI (OR 3.70, 95%CI 2.68-5.10), whereas the risk of IS was, if anything, only slightly elevated (1.25, 0.83-1.87). A family history of stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic) was associated with a twofold increase in MI risk (2.00, 1.29-3.12), whereas the IS risk was again not clearly associated (1.37, 0.79-2.40).
Conclusions: The predictive value of a family history for cardiovascular disease differs between MI and IS.
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