Association of ABO Blood Groups and major Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factors

Abstract

Objectives: To study the association of ABO blood groups with major ischaemic heart disease risk factors.
Setting: Department of Cardiology, Mayo hospital, Lahore over a period of two years from January 2008 to December 2009.
Study Design: Analytic comparative study.
Subjects and Methods: The study group included 907 patients of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). The distribution of ABO blood groups in IHD patients was compared for presence or absence of major IHD risk factors. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16. ANOVA and Chi-square tests for significance were used. P-value less than 0.05 was taken as significant.
Results: In this study, the following pattern of ABO blood groups was observed in IHD patients : blood group A 251 (27.67%); blood group B 329 (36.27%); blood group O 235 (25.91%); blood group AB 92 (10.14%). We found no relation-ship of ABO blood groups with age (p-value = 0.234), gender (p-value = 0.093), hypertension (p-value = 0.230), diabetes mellitus (p-value = 0.801), family history of IHD (p-value = 0.277), transverse ear lobe crease (p-value = 0.231), total choles-terol (p-value = 0.797), triglycerides (p-value = 0.351), low density lipoprotein (p-value = 0.078), high density lipoprotein (p-value = 0.114). Similarly no relationship was found of smoking, weight, height and body mass index with ABO blood gro-ups, p-values 0.428, 0.528, 0.908 and 0.455 respectively.
Conclusion: There is no association of ABO blood groups and major ischaemic heart disease risk factors.
Key Words: Ischaemic heart disease risk factors, ABO blood groups, Atherosclerosis.