Friday, March 30, 2007

HFE testing for stroke.

After reading Dr Lei's post regarding the article on a gene variant that codes for hemochromatosis (an iron overload syndrome) and stroke I decided to delve into the article.
Here are my take home points.

  • This finding needs to be replicated and should not be used for screening, unless you are of the homogeneous (genetically speaking) Danes represented
  • This 3 fold risk for stroke could be due to things other than iron. Therefore iron studies may not be the way to evaluate for this stroke risk
  • Genetic testing for this could be confusing and I would NOT, repeat would not get Tested without talking to a geneticist or genetic counselor.

Thanks again to Dr Lei at Genetics and Health

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