ABO blood groups and abdominal aortic aneurysm

ABO blood group and the risk of aortic disease: a nationwide cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To analyse the association between ABO blood group and aortic disease using data on blood donors and transfused patients from Sweden.

DESIGN

This was a retrospective study using data from the Swedish portion of the Scandinavian Donations and Transfusions Database. The association between ABO blood group and aortic disease was analysed using log-linear Poisson regression models and presented as incidence rate ratios (IRRs).

SETTING

Swedish population-based study.

PARTICIPANTS

The study cohort consisted of 1 164 561 Swedish blood donors and 961 637 transfused patients with a combined follow-up time of 29 390 649 person-years.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

IRRs of aortic events (ie, aortic aneurysms and/or aortic dissections) in relation to patient blood group.

RESULTS

A total of 20 684 aortic events occurred during the study period. Non-O donors and patients had similar incidence of aortic events when compared with blood group O donors and patients with an IRR of 0.98 (95% CI, 0.93-1.04) and 1.00 (95% CI, 0.97-1.03), respectively. There were no differences between non-O and blood group O individuals when aortic dissections and aortic aneurysms were analysed separately. Blood group B conferred a lower risk of aortic aneurysms in the patient cohort when compared with blood group O (IRR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.85-0.96).

CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, there were no statistically significant associations between ABO blood group and the risk of aortic disease. A possible protective effect of blood group B was observed in the patient cohort but this finding requires further investigation.

Biologic roles of the ABH and Lewis histo-blood group antigens part II: thrombosis, cardiovascular disease and metabolism

The ABH and Lewis antigens were among the first of the human red blood cell polymorphisms to be identified and, in the case of the former, play a dominant role in transfusion and transplantation. But these two therapies are largely twentieth-century innovations, and the ABH and related carbohydrate antigens are not only expressed on a very wide range of human tissues, but were present in primates long before modern humans evolved. Although we have learned a great deal about the biochemistry and genetics of these structures, the biological roles that they play in human health and disease are incompletely understood. This review and its companion, which appeared in a previous issue of Vox Sanguinis, will focus on a few of the biologic and pathologic processes which appear to be affected by histo-blood group phenotype. The first of the two reviews explored the interactions of two bacteria with the ABH and Lewis glycoconjugates of their human host cells, and described the possible connections between the immune response of the human host to infection and the development of the AB-isoagglutinins. This second review will describe the relationship between ABO phenotype and thromboembolic disease, cardiovascular disease states, and general metabolism.

Blood groups and acute aortic dissection type III

INTRODUCTION

Acute aortic type III dissection is one of the most catastrophic events, with in-hospital mortality ranging between 10% and 12%. The majority of patients are treated medically, but complicated dissections, which represent 15% to 20% of cases, require surgical or thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). For the best outcomes adequate blood transfusion support is required. Interest in the relationship between blood type and vascular disease has been established. The aim of our study is to evaluate distribution of blood groups among patients with acute aortic type III dissection and to identify any kind of relationship between blood type and patient's survival.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

From January 2005 to December 2014, 115 patients with acute aortic type III dissection were enrolled at the Clinic of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery in Belgrade, Serbia and retrospectively analyzed. Patients were separated into two groups. The examination group consisted of patients with a lethal outcome, and the control group consisted of patients who survived.

RESULTS

The analysis of the blood groups and RhD typing between groups did not reveal a statistically significant difference (p = 0.220).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicated no difference between different blood groups and RhD typing with respect to in-hospital mortality of patients with acute aortic dissection type III.