# Shared and novel contributors to risk of stroke and stroke recurrence in a multiethnic population – the role of social determinants of health, genetics, and epigenetics

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 2024 · $667,235

## Abstract

Project Abstract:
Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In the United States, stroke is the fifth leading cause of
death and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. One quarter of strokes are recurrences. African
Americans have nearly two-fold greater risk of suffering a stroke, 60% higher risk of recurrent stroke, and are
twice as likely to die from stroke compared to European Americans. Recurrent strokes are more often fatal and
result in even greater disability than first strokes in survivors. To date, few studies have focused on the interplay
of social and structural determinants of health, epigenetic factors and genetic variants in stroke and recurrent
stroke risk. To address this knowledge gap, we will generate and evaluate DNA methylation data while leveraging
genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data and phenotypic data from individuals with
stroke, recurrent stroke, or no stroke from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke
(REGARDS) study as well as participants from the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention (VISP) clinical trial.
Expanding our prior genetic and epigenetics studies, we hypothesize that we will identify DNA methylation sites
and genetic markers influencing susceptibility for recurrent stroke and identify key social and structural
determinants of health that mediate stroke and stroke recurrence risk.
We will test our hypothesis by performing epigenome-wide association analyses for stroke and recurrent stroke
risk including mediation analyses considering comorbidities, environmental factors, and biomarkers, generating
genetic and epigenetic risk scores, and performing convergent -omics approaches. This represents a powerful
and innovative technique to identify genetic and epigenetic contributors to stroke and recurrent stroke risk and
may allow improved personalization of risk assessment and targeted prevention of strokes as we work to
eliminate stroke disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10858685
- **Project number:** 1R01NS136542-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Fang-Chi Hsu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $667,235
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-05-15 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10858685

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10858685, Shared and novel contributors to risk of stroke and stroke recurrence in a multiethnic population – the role of social determinants of health, genetics, and epigenetics (1R01NS136542-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10858685. Licensed CC0.

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