Can your blood group predict heart attack risk?
India is presently witnessing nearly two million heart
attacks annually. A heart attack (clinically
known as myocardial
infarction) is the permanent damage or death of the heart
muscles due to lack of oxygen-rich blood. According to reports, heart attack
kills one person in every 33 seconds in our country. In the recent past,
several reasons have been attributed to the paradigm shift in the age groups
suffering from heart attacks to younger age brackets. A heart attack could be
induced by poor diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, high blood pressure,
sedentary lifestyle, and various other risk factors, including genetic ones.
While lifestyle burden contributes to a majority of cardiovascular events in
our societies, in a shocking revelation through an international study conducted
earlier this year by Kole and Associates, it has been found that people with A,
B, and AB blood types may be at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases,
particularly heart attacks, when compared to individuals with O blood types.
The study presented at European Society of Cardiology, which involved 1.3
million respondents, also said that all people living with ‘non-O blood groups’
are at nine percent higher risk of cardiovascular events (and heart attacks in
particular), and also have a shorter life expectancy, says Dr Bharat Kukreti,
Senior Consultant Cardiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon.
The research identified 7,71,113 individuals with a
non-O blood group and 519,743 individuals with an O blood group in the
meta-analysis of coronary disorders. Among all people with non-O blood groups,
1.5 percent experienced a coronary event, as compared with 1.4 percent with the
O blood group. Similarly, for combined cardiovascular events, the risk
associated with non-O groups was significantly higher. The findings from the
study clearly indicate that blood group should be seen as an important risk
assessment factor for prevention of heart health issues, besides age, sex,
weight, systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels. However, the reasons of
association between heart attacks and blood group remain unclear till date, but
highly speculated. Individuals with non o-type blood group have 25% more
von-will brand factor (an important blood constituent that leads to clotting).
It has also been found by some researchers in the past that people with A, B
and AB blood have higher levels of a blood-clotting protein, and resultantly,
higher concentration of cholesterol.
27.06.2017
Living well is the best revenge
George Herbert
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