Table 1.

Study and patient characteristics of the included studies.

Author, Year, Country of Patients	Study Design	Genotyping Method	Population	Sample Size	Mean Age (Years, SD)	Male (%)
Belvis, 2009, Spain [22]	case–control	gene specific amplification and sequencing	Stroke/TIA patients with or without PFO	100	56.5 (12.4)	58%
Bollmann, 2010, Germany [24]	case–control	commercial real-time PCR for specific SNP + FRET	Atrial fibrillation patients with or without PFO	508	57 (10)	70%
Elliott, 2003, Australia [23]	cohort	gene specific amplification and sequencing	PFO with paradoxical embolism which underwent percutaneous closure	25	48.7 (15.3)	48%
Marjaneh, 2011, Australia & Germany [25]	case–control	gene specific amplification and sequencing commercial genotyping for specific SNP	PFO (with or without stroke/TIA) vs. controls	752	58.7 (12.2)	54.8%

PCR = polymerase chain reaction; SNP = single nucleotide polymorphism; FRET = fluorescence resonance energy transfer.