Dr. Braxton Mitchell
A new study shows that people with type A blood have a 16% higher risk of early-onset stroke (EOS) than those with other blood types.
Conversely, results from a meta-analysis of approximately 17,000 cases ischemic stroke Among adults under the age of 60, having type O blood was shown to reduce the risk of EOS by 12%.
Furthermore, the risk association was significantly stronger in EOS than in patients with late-onset stroke (LOS), indicating a stronger role for thrombogenic factors in younger patients, the researchers noted. is doing.
Co-author Braxton Mitchell, Ph.D., said: “What this tells us is that as young adults, it’s your blood type that makes you more likely to have a stroke, and it’s actually your blood type that makes it more likely that you’ll develop it later. “The risk of clotting and stroke is much higher in comparison,” said a professor of medicine and epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Medscape Medical News.
Here are the findings: publish online August 31st neurology.
strong association
The Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) was conducted as part of the Early-Onset Ischemic Stroke Genetics Consortium, a collaboration of 48 different studies from North America, Europe, Japan, Pakistan, and Australia. From age 18 he evaluated a 59-year-old patient with early-onset ischemic stroke.
Researchers included data from 16,927 stroke patients. Of these, 5825 had a stroke before her age 60, defined as early onset. GWAS results were also examined for approximately 600,000 people without stroke.
As a result, two genetic mutations associated with blood types A and O were found to be strongly associated with early stroke risk.
The researchers found that the protective effect of type O was significantly stronger in EOS vs. LOS (odds ratio [OR]0.88 vs 0.96, respectively. P. = .001). Similarly, the association between Type A and increased EOS risk was significantly stronger than that seen with LOS (OR, 1.16 vs 1.05; P. = .005).
Using polygenic risk scores, researchers also found a higher genetic risk for veins. thromboembolismanother prothrombin status was more strongly associated with EOS compared with LOS (P. = .008).
Previous studies have shown an association between stroke risk and its variants. they Genes that determine blood type. The new analysis suggests that A and O gene variants represent nearly all of the genetic variants genetically associated with early stroke, the researchers note.
Findings point to blood type as a risk factor for stroke in young people, but Mitchell cautions, “At this time, blood type has no impact on preventive care.”
“The risk of stroke by blood type is smaller than other risk factors we know of, such as smoking and smoking. high blood pressure“I’m much more concerned about these other risk factors, especially since they may be modifiable,” he said.
The next step in research, he said, is to assess how blood type interacts with other known risk factors to increase the risk of stroke.
“There may be a subset of people who may be at particularly high risk if they have type A blood and have some of these other risk factors.
More research in younger patients needed
and accompanying editorial, Jennifer Juhl Majersik, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City and Paul Lacaze, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Public Health Genomics Program at Monash University, Australia Stroke often focused primarily on the elderly the study.
“In approximately 40% of patients with EOS, stroke is of unknown cause, and because patients with EOS are often excluded from trials, there are few data from clinical trials to guide the choice of preventive strategies in this population,” said Majersik. Lacaze writes.
“This study provides a better understanding of the pathophysiology of EOS,” they add.
The editors based their analysis on the findings that “the goal is to better understand the pathophysiology of stroke, leading to targeted preventive treatments for EOS and reduced disability during the patient’s most productive years.” , stated that future research could be done.
Mitchell reiterated calls for more young stroke patients to be included in clinical trials.
“As we are learning, stroke in older people is not the same as stroke in younger people. I have.”
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mitchell, Majersik, and Lacaze have not reported any related financial relationships.
Neurology. Published online on August 31, 2022. Overview, editorial
Kelli Whitlock Burton is a reporter for Medscape Medical News, covering psychiatry and neurology.
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