Stroke in south asians

Title : Stroke in south asians

Abstract:

Stroke is the third commonest cause of death in the West yet by the year 2050 the WHO predicts that 80% of its occurrence will lay between India and China. These two most globally populous nations are home to an aging people with increasing risk factors for all cardiovascular diseases. The UK is home to the largest South Asian population outside of India. This group present later with cardiovascular disease and are a greater burden to the National Health Service compared to their Caucasian counterparts.

We have created, to the best of our knowledge, the largest DNA biobank of stroke in South Asians having recruited affected patients and controls from site in the UK, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. We present the epidemiological findings of our data and compare and contrast our findings with those of Caucasians. This presentation is a prelude to the identification of genetic loci in stroke in South Asians.

Audience take away:

• Stroke is more common in the South Asian population who are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease

• Their management for such disease needs to be more aggressive compared to their Caucasian counterparts

• Stroke has a likely genetic component

Biography:

Professor Pankaj Sharma is Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research, Royal Holloway University of London (ICR2UL). He was formally head of Imperial College Cerebrovascular Research Unit (ICCRU) at Imperial College London. He holds doctorates from both the Universities of Cambridge and London. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease, Hon. Medical Director of Different Strokes, a UK national charity which seeks to support young stroke victims, and President of the London Cardiovascular Society.

A former Dept of Health Senior Fellow, British Heart Foundation Clinician Scientist at Cambridge University and Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Medical School, he has a long standing interest in the genetics of hypertension, cardio- and cerebrovascular disease. He has published extensively in the field and is an internationally recognized authority on the genetic basis of stroke. In 2015 he was named the UKs top Asian doctor at the annual British Indian Awards.