Family Stroke Boosts Heart Attack Risk

If you’re the daughter of a woman who had a stroke, your risk of heart attack as well as stroke may be increased, a study finds. The study included 2,210 men and women who had a previous heart attack, severe chest pain or stroke. About 1 in 4 said that a parent or sibling had had a stroke. People who had this family history of stroke were just as likely to have a heart attack or chest pain themselves as to have a stroke. But the family history of stroke was different for women who had a heart attack or chest pain than for men. Among women, the parent who had a stroke was twice as likely to be her mother as her father. Among men, the parent with a stroke was equally likely to be the mother or father. But if a man’s sibling had a stroke, it was 4 times as likely to be a brother as a sister. The study appeared in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.