Factor V Leiden is not responsible for stroke in patients with sickling disorders and is uncommon in African Americans with sickle cell disease

✍ Scribed by Kahn, Marc J.; Scher, Charles; Rozans, Marta; Michaels, Robert K.; Leissinger, Cindy; Krause, John

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 49 KB
• Volume: 54
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0361-8609
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8652(199701)54:1<12::aid-ajh2>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Cerebrovascular accidents in patients with sickle cell anemia are among the most devastating complications of the disease. It has recently been demonstrated that some patients have a hypercoagulable state on the basis of the presence of an abnormal factor V molecule, factor V Leiden. We undertook this study to evaluate the presence of factor V Leiden in sickle cell patients with stroke. Eighty-two patients with either Hgb SS, Hgb SC, or Hgb S(beta+)-thalassemia comprised the study population. Of the 82 patients in the study, 19 of them had a history of stroke. In our study population, none of the stroke patients possessed the factor V Leiden mutation. One of the non-stroke patients was a heterozygote for the mutation (P = 1.00). The overall frequency of the factor V Leiden allele in our population is 0.6%. The estimated prevalence for this mutation is reportedly between 3 and 7% in Caucasian populations. We conclude that the gene frequency for factor V Leiden is less common in Africa Americans with sickle cell disease. Furthermore, factor V Leiden does not appear to be responsible for the development of stroke in sickle cell patients.