Age of onset of cerebral venous thrombosis: the BEAST study.

Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an uncommon cause of stroke in young adults. We aimed to determine the impact of age, gender and risk factors (including sex-specific) on CVT onset. Methods: We used data from the BEAST (Biorepository to Establish the Aetiology of Sinovenous Thrombosis), a multicentre multinational prospective observational study on CVT. Composite factors analysis (CFA) was performed to determine the impact on the age of CVT onset in males and females. Results: A total of 1309 CVT patients (75.3% females) aged ⩾18 years were recruited. The overall median (IQR-interquartile range) age for males and females was 46 (35-58) years and 37 (28-47) years (p < 0.001), respectively. However, the presence of antibiotic-requiring sepsis (p = 0.03, 95% CI 27-47 years) among males and gender-specific risk factors like pregnancy (p < 0.001, 95% CI 29-34 years), puerperium (p < 0.001, 95% CI 26-34 years) and oral contraceptive use (p < 0.001, 95% CI 33-36 years) were significantly associated with earlier onset of CVT among females. CFA demonstrated a significantly earlier onset of CVT in females, ~12 years younger, in those with multiple (⩾1) compared to '0' risk factors (p < 0.001, 95% CI 32-35 years). Conclusions: Women suffer CVT 9 years earlier in comparison to men. Female patients with multiple (⩾1) risk factors suffer CVT ~12 years earlier compared to those with no identifiable risk factors.

Association of the protein C promoter CG haplotype and the factor II G20210A mutation is a risk factor for cerebral venous thrombosis.

The factor II G20210A mutation and estrogen treatment are described as risk factors for cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). We evaluated these known risk factors in a population of CVT patients and investigated the role of a combination of two polymorphisms in the promoter of the protein C gene (PC promoter CG haplotype), newly described as risk factors for deep venous thrombosis. A retrospective population of 26 CVT patients was compared with a control group of 84 healthy volunteers. After a multivariate analysis, we confirmed that the factor II G20210A mutation is an independent risk factor for CVT with odds ratio 4.7 (95% confidence interval, 2.83--75.3). We demonstrated that the CVT risk is increased when this mutation is associated either with the PC promoter CG haplotype (odds ratio=19.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.1--186.5) or, in females, with an estrogen treatment (odds ratio=24; 95% confidence interval, 2.26--127.3). In this work, the association of the factor II G20210A mutation and the PC promoter CG haplotype or estrogen treatment seems to be a particular risk for CVT.