ABO blood group alleles: A risk factor for coronary artery disease. An angiographic study.

OBJECTIVES To analyze the impact of ABO groups on coronary heart disease risk factors, coronary involvement and prognosis. METHODS An observational single center study was conducted to examine 4901 consecutive patients with heart disease receiving coronary angiography and ABO group determination at National Research Council Institute of Clinical Physiology between January 1993 and December 2003, with maximum 10 years follow-up. All-cause death and cardiac death, were the considered end points. RESULTS When compared to the official distribution of ABO groups in the Italian population (O 40%, A 36%, B 17%, AB 7%), a substantially different distribution was observed in the study population (O 43.3%, A 41.4%, B 11.2%, AB 4.1%). In addition, a significant association was found between group non-O and family history of ischemic heart disease, hypercholesterolemia and presence of coronary atherosclerosis. Higher prevalence of A and B alleles was found in patients with myocardial infarction (P<0.05). Group non-O was a powerful predictor of cardiac mortality in patients aged <65 years, particularly in women (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.06-2.21 and HR 5.29, 95% CI 1.57-17.82, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Group non-O is associated with increased mortality in patients with ischemic heart disease. Group non-O increases the risk for cardiac death in non-elderly patients, particularly in younger females, and groups A and B prevail in myocardial infarction. ABO group determination might aid in genetic screening for ischemic heart disease and become relevant in the management of risk factor control.

[1]  G. Schmitz,et al.  ABCA2: a candidate regulator of neural transmembrane lipid transport , 2002, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences CMLS.

[2]  Henrik Clausen,et al.  Molecular genetic basis of the histo-blood group ABO system , 1990, Nature.

[3]  P. Libby,et al.  Inflammation and Atherosclerosis , 2002, Circulation.

[4]  D. Cook,et al.  ABO blood group and ischaemic heart disease in British men. , 1990, BMJ.

[5]  C. Napoli,et al.  Maternal hypercholesterolemia during pregnancy influences the later development of atherosclerosis: clinical and pathogenic implications. , 2001, European heart journal.

[6]  M. Langman,et al.  ABO blood-groups and venous thromboembolic disease. , 1970, Lancet.

[7]  J. Medalie,et al.  Blood groups, myocardial infarction and angina pectoris among 10,000 adult males. , 1971, The New England journal of medicine.

[8]  K. Kingsbury.  Relation of ABO blood-groups to atherosclerosis. , 1971, Lancet.

[9]  C. O’Donnell.  Family history, subclinical atherosclerosis, and coronary heart disease risk: barriers and opportunities for the use of family history information in risk prediction and prevention. , 2004, Circulation.

[10]  W. Kannel,et al.  ABO blood group and cardiovacular disease: the Framingham study. , 1976, Atherosclerosis.

[11]  John A. Rumberger,et al.  Coronary Artery Calcification and Family History of Premature Coronary Heart Disease: Sibling History Is More Strongly Associated Than Parental History , 2004, Circulation.

[12]  A. Stanton,et al.  The Impact on Coronary Artery Disease of Common Polymorphisms Known to Modulate Responses to Pathogens , 2006, Annals of human genetics.

[13]  T. Carrel,et al.  Association of ABO histo-blood group B allele with myocardial infarction. , 2003, European journal of immunogenetics : official journal of the British Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

[14]  Paul M. Ridker,et al.  Novel risk factors for systemic atherosclerosis: a comparison of C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, homocysteine, lipoprotein(a), and standard cholesterol screening as predictors of peripheral arterial disease. , 2001 .

[15]  J. Cooper,et al.  Factor VIII, ABO blood group and the incidence of ischaemic heart disease , 1994, British journal of haematology.

[16]  M. Laffan,et al.  Amount of H Antigen Expressed on Circulating von Willebrand Factor Is Modified by ABO Blood Group Genotype and Is a Major Determinant of Plasma von Willebrand Factor Antigen Levels , 2002, Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology.

[17]  D. Sane,et al.  ABO blood types: influence on infarct size, procedural characteristics and prognosis. , 2008, Thrombosis research.

[18]  V. Gudnason,et al.  Fifteen percent of myocardial infarctions and coronary revascularizations explained by family history unrelated to conventional risk factors. The Reykjavik Cohort Study. , 2002, European heart journal.

[19]  H. Hein,et al.  ABO phenotypes and inflammation-related predictors of lung cancer mortality: the Copenhagen Male Study – a 16-year follow-up , 2007, European Respiratory Journal.

[20]  A. Hellem,et al.  ABO blood groups and coronary heart disease (CHD). A study in subjects with severe and latent CHD. , 1980, Thrombosis and haemostasis.

[21]  S. Yip.  Sequence variation at the human ABO locus , 2002, Annals of human genetics.

[22]  L. Berkman,et al.  Genetic susceptibility to death from coronary heart disease in a study of twins. , 1994, The New England journal of medicine.

[23]  A. Gylfason,et al.  A Common Variant on Chromosome 9p21 Affects the Risk of Myocardial Infarction , 2007, Science.