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Non-O blood groups associated with higher risk of heart attack.
Having a non-O blood group is associated with a higher risk of heart attack, according to research presented today at Heart Failure 2017 and the 4th World Congress on Acute Heart Failure. |
Researcher, said: "It has been suggested that people with non-O blood groups (A, B, AB) are at higher risk for heart attacks and overall cardiovascular mortality, but this suggestion comes from case-control studies which have a low level of evidence. If this was confirmed it could have important implications for personalised medicine." |
The current study was a meta-analysis of prospective studies reporting on O and
non-O blood groups, and incident cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction
(heart attack), coronary artery disease, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure,
cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality.
The study included 1 362 569 subjects from 11 prospective cohorts, described in nine articles. There were a total of 23 154 cardiovascular events. The researchers analysed the association between blood group and all coronary events, combined cardiovascular events, and fatal coronary events. |
The analysis of all coronary events included 771 113 people with a non-O blood group
and 519 743 people with an O blood group, of whom 11 437(1.5%) and 7 220 (1.4%)
suffered a coronary event, respectively. The odds ratio (OR) for all coronary events
was significantly higher in carriers of a non-O blood group, at 1.09 (95% confidence
interval [CI] of 1.06-1.13).
The analysis of combined cardiovascular events included 708 276 people with a non-O blood group and 476 868 people with an O blood group, of whom 17 449 (2.5%) and 10 916 (2.3%) had an event, respectively. The OR for combined cardiovascular events was significantly higher in non-O blood group carriers, at 1.09 (95% CI 1.06-1.11). |
The analysis of fatal coronary events did not show a significant difference between
people with O and non-O blood groups.
"We demonstrate that having a non-O blood group is associated with a 9% increased risk of coronary events and a 9% increased risk of cardiovascular events, especially myocardial infarction," said Doctor. The mechanisms that might explain this risk are under study. The higher risk for cardiovascular events in non-O blood group carriers may be due to having greater concentrations of von Willebrand factor, a blood clotting protein which has been associated with thrombotic events. Further, non-O blood group carriers, specifically those with an A blood group, are known to have higher cholesterol. And galectin-3, which is linked to inflammation and worse outcomes in heart failure patients, is also higher in those with a non-O blood group. |
Researcher concluded: "In future, blood group should be considered in risk assessment for cardiovascular prevention, together with cholesterol, age, sex and systolic blood pressure. It could be that people with an A blood group should have a lower treatment threshold for dyslipidaemia or hypertension, for example. We need further studies to validate if the excess cardiovascular risk in non-O blood group carriers may be amenable to treatment." |