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(Stroke. 2007;38:e24.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Response to Letter by Grond-Ginsbach et al

Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass

Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD

Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Response:

We appreciate the comments and interest of Grond-Ginsbach and colleagues. The difference between their results and ours highlights the importance of specificity and precision in defining clinical phenotypes when performing genetic association studies. There are 3 obvious differences in phenotype that may account for the discrepant outcome between their analysis and ours (however, we should caution the reader that without presentation of detailed information in a rigorously peer-reviewed publication, we cannot be certain). First, in their general analysis, these investigators genotyped all patients with acute ischemic stroke without consideration of stroke subtypes. By contrast, because stroke in the young is notoriously heterogeneous in etiology, we specifically excluded those with a known underlying cause, such as cardioembolism, carotid dissection, and hematologic disorders, as well as those with other systemic disorders that contributed to the stroke syndrome. Second, both populations presented in our study were strictly matched to controls according to age, gender, and ethnicity. No information about matching is available in this brief letter from Grond-Ginsbach and colleagues. In fact, we do not know precisely what the age range of their study populations is and whether they included children. Furthermore, other factors that the authors themselves acknowledge, such as ethnicity, may contribute to the difference in results between their study and ours. As we reported, there is clear ethnic variability in GPx-3 haplotype frequencies. Third, we performed our association analysis taking into consideration other potential genetic determinants of (thrombotic) stroke risk. Thus, without a detailed presentation of all of the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Voetsch and J. Loscalzo Response to the Letter by Grond-Ginsbach et al Stroke, February 1, 2009; 40(2): e25 - e25. [Full Text] [PDF]