TY - JOUR
T1 - Familial risks for main neurological diseases in siblings based on hospitalizations in Sweden
AU - Hemminki, Kari
AU - Sundquist, Kristina
AU - Li, Xinjun
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (Grant No. R01-H271084-1), the Swedish Research Council (Grant No. K2004-21X-11651-09A to Dr. Jan Sundquist and K2005-27X-15428-01A to Dr. Kristina Sundquist), and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (Grant No. 2001-2373 and 2005-0039).
PY - 2006/8
Y1 - 2006/8
N2 - Recent successes in identifying the underlying genetic mechanisms for neurological diseases, particularly for their Mendelian forms, have had profound implications for their diagnostics, treatment and classification. However, there has never been an attempt to compare familial risks in a systematic way among and between the main neurological diseases. Familial risks were here defined for siblings who were hospitalized because of a neurological disease in Sweden. A nationwide database for neurological diseases was constructed by linking the Multigeneration Register of 0- to 69-year-old siblings to the Hospital Discharge Register for the years 1987 to 2001. Standardized risk ratios were calculated for affected sibling pairs by comparing them to those whose siblings had no neurological disease. There were three main results. First, it was shown that all disease groups had a familial risk, with the exception of transient ischemic attacks, and the risks could be ranked from the highest (3451) for Huntington's disease to the lowest (2.1) for inflammatory diseases. Second, increased familial risks were shown for disease subtypes for which susceptibility genes or familial clustering have not been demonstrated previously, including multiple sclerosis, sleep apnea, nerve, nerve root and plexus disorders, and cerebral palsy. Third, based on the available sample size there was no convincing evidence for familial comorbidity between the disease groups, suggesting that the factors causing familial aggregation, probably usually heritable genes, are distinct for each subtype. The high familial risks for neurological disease imply heritable etiology and opportunities for identification of further susceptibility genes.
AB - Recent successes in identifying the underlying genetic mechanisms for neurological diseases, particularly for their Mendelian forms, have had profound implications for their diagnostics, treatment and classification. However, there has never been an attempt to compare familial risks in a systematic way among and between the main neurological diseases. Familial risks were here defined for siblings who were hospitalized because of a neurological disease in Sweden. A nationwide database for neurological diseases was constructed by linking the Multigeneration Register of 0- to 69-year-old siblings to the Hospital Discharge Register for the years 1987 to 2001. Standardized risk ratios were calculated for affected sibling pairs by comparing them to those whose siblings had no neurological disease. There were three main results. First, it was shown that all disease groups had a familial risk, with the exception of transient ischemic attacks, and the risks could be ranked from the highest (3451) for Huntington's disease to the lowest (2.1) for inflammatory diseases. Second, increased familial risks were shown for disease subtypes for which susceptibility genes or familial clustering have not been demonstrated previously, including multiple sclerosis, sleep apnea, nerve, nerve root and plexus disorders, and cerebral palsy. Third, based on the available sample size there was no convincing evidence for familial comorbidity between the disease groups, suggesting that the factors causing familial aggregation, probably usually heritable genes, are distinct for each subtype. The high familial risks for neurological disease imply heritable etiology and opportunities for identification of further susceptibility genes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33750103444&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1375/183242706778024991
DO - 10.1375/183242706778024991
M3 - Article
C2 - 16899166
AN - SCOPUS:33750103444
SN - 1832-4274
VL - 9
SP - 580
EP - 586
JO - Twin Research and Human Genetics
JF - Twin Research and Human Genetics
IS - 4
ER -