Cor Vasa 2013, 55(5):e424-e426 | DOI: 10.1016/j.crvasa.2013.06.006

Association between blood group antigens and rheumatic valve involvement and severity in endemic areas

Suleyman Ercan^a,*, Gokhan Altunbas^b, Dursun Cayan Akkoyun^c, Vedat Davutoglu^a, Hayati Deniz^d

^a Department of Cardiology, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turecko

^b Department of Cardiology, Kilis State Hospital, Gaziantep, Turecko

^c Department of Cardiology, Namik Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turecko

^d Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turecko

Background: Rheumatic valve disease is an important public health problem in developing countries. We sought to evaluate the possible role of blood antigens as a risk factor for severe rheumatic valve disease.

Methods: Two hundred fifty-four patients with severe rheumatic mitral and/or aortic valve disease with the surgical indication were enrolled to the study. Control group was composed of age and gender matched 2668 healthy volunteers.

Results: There were 216 patients with aortic valve involvement and 249 patients with mitral valve involvement. 175 patients had mitral stenosis, 96 patients had severe mitral regurgitation and 61 patients had severe aortic regurgitation. The distribution of blood groups among patients was as follows: Group A=42.9%, Group B=19.2%, Group AB=8.6%, Group 0=29.1%. The distribution of blood groups in the control group was Group A=40.8%, Group B=16.4%, Group AB=7.6%, Group O=35.1%. There was no significant difference between blood groups of patients and controls (p=0.141).

Conclusion: Blood group does not seem to be a risk factor for rheumatic valve involvement or severity of the disease.

Keywords: Blood group antigen; Rheumatic valve disease

Received: March 2, 2013; Revised: June 20, 2013; Accepted: June 24, 2013; Published: October 1, 2013  Show citation