Association of a 27-bp repeat polymorphism in ecNOS gene with ischemic stroke in Chinese patients

Objective: To investigate the association between a 27-bp repeat polymorphi sm of the ecNOS gene in 364 patients with ischemic stroke and 516 control s ubjects. Background: The incidence of stroke in China is higher than that o f coronary artery disease. Furthermore, ischemic stroke is more prevalent t han hemorrhagic stroke. A 27-bp repeat polymorphism in intron 4 of the endo thelial constitutive nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) gene has been reported t o associate with coronary artery disease in an Australian population, but n o association was found between this polymorphism and ischemic stroke in a Japanese population. Methods: All patients and unrelated control subjects w ere screened by CT. All participants lived in central China. Multivariate l ogistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent roles of this ecNOS gene polymorphism and covariates in ischemic stroke. Results: Th ese results indicated an association between the ecNOS a allele and ischemi c stroke in the Chinese patients studied (7.8 versus 17.0%; OR = 2.44; 95% CI = 1.60 to 3.71,p < 0.0001). Conclusion: The ecNOS a allele in intron 4 m ay be an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke in the Chinese populat ion studied, especially in those lacking other conventional risk factors.