Popis: |
Vascular disease is the leading cause of global disease burden, but substantial gaps in our knowledge regarding family history of vascular disease, peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and acute aortic disease persist. Prospective, population-based data in these neglected areas may be useful in diagnosis, risk prediction, prognosis and clinical management of vascular disease. The Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC) is an ongoing prospective, population-based study of vascular disease in all territories in Oxfordshire, UK, which started in 2002. The study population comprises all 91,106 individuals registered with nine general practices. Multiple overlapping methods of “hot” and “cold” pursuit are used to identify all patients with acute vascular events. I have shown that patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and a history of myocardial infarction (MI) in both parents are 6 times more likely to have siblings with MI than those ACS patients with no parental history of MI, whereas, parental stroke does not predict stroke in siblings among TIA/stroke patients. Maternal history of MI is more common in women than men with ACS. Premature maternal MI is strongly associated with premature MI in females and males. I have also shown that maternal stroke is more common than paternal stroke in female ACS patients, and that family history of stroke is as common in patients with ACS as in patients with TIA/stroke. However, I showed that these associations between family history and MI or stroke cannot be explained by disease localisation or disease severity on coronary angiography. In both primary and secondary prevention settings, PAD indicates a high risk of future events. I have shown that, although acute PAD events account for only 7% of acute vascular events at 1 year, they account for 12% of acute vascular deaths. Acute peripheral arterial events are more aggressive in terms of risk factor profile, mortality and morbidity than other vascular disease. Half of patients with incident PAD had history of vascular disease. Incidence and severity of PAD events generally increases with age, and severity of disease predicts mortality. I have shown that incidence of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) and aortic dissection increased steeply with age, and 5-year mortality rates were 74% and 65% for RAAA and aortic dissection respectively. I have also shown that the true population-based incidence of acute aortic dissection is similar to previous estimates of incidence, implying that it is accurately diagnosed and coded, and that retrospective data analysis produces valid estimates of incidence. |