Study: Blood tests for cardiovascular illnesses are inferior than genetic tests.

 

Jan 07 2023

Washington, United States, January 7 (ANI): A more accurate picture of the risk of cardiovascular problems can be obtained by determining a person's blood type using genetic tests rather than just conventional blood tests. A patient is at double the chance of developing an illness if they have two genetic variations of A, B, or AB. This is the conclusion of a recent Uppsala University research that used information from the UK Biobank.

If a person has one or two genetic variations of the blood types A, AB, or B, the risk of blood clots differs significantly. Simply put, having two versions of A or B rather than just one increases your chance of developing blood clots by two times, according to Julia Hoglund, a doctorate student at Uppsala University's Department of Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology and the study's lead author.

A, B, AB, or O are the four blood types that can exist in an individual. When getting blood transfusions, for instance, a person's blood type is crucial. Recently, it has been demonstrated that blood type also influences how a person contracts viruses, germs, and even the development of cancer and cardiovascular illnesses.

The newly released study demonstrates that an individual's risk of illness is also influenced by the genetic variations they inherit from each of their parents. The report is based on information from 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank population survey. The genetics underlying blood group makeup has been more thoroughly examined by the researchers.

This study confirms earlier findings that people with blood type O had a reduced risk of cardiovascular illness, including blood clots, than people with other blood groups. However, the researchers could ascertain which genetic variation a person had from each parent by genetically analysing the blood groups as opposed to using conventional blood analysis, which is carried out using antibody testing. Since a person with blood group A might have two genetic variations for A or one for A and one for O, this can be important in detecting disorders.

"Since both A and B mask the O gene, this cannot be found in a routine blood test. Genetic variations greatly influence a person's risk for cardiovascular disorders. It would be much easier to identify high-risk individuals if this approach was adopted as the norm with patients, according to Hoglund.

Researchers also noticed that people of different blood types had varying quantities of certain proteins after doing the study. The proteins that aid in blood coagulation provide the best illustration of this. The same blood types that raise the risk of blood clots also have higher concentrations of proteins necessary for blood coagulation.

"Our results demonstrate that standardising the determination of the patient's blood group and the blood group's genetics would enable us to identify and start treating illnesses at an early stage, which can prevent or postpone major problems," the researchers write. (ANI)

This report was created automatically by the ANI news agency. ThePrint is not liable for its contents.