Prevalence of hereditary factors in different age groups in patients with acute coronary syndrome

BACKGROUND: Genetic factors are essential for the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD). This study presents the role of genetic factors in a prematurely developing disease in males under 55 years old and females under 60 years old. Additionally, genetic risk factors may also be significant for CHD development in other age groups although specific genetic factors may differ.

AIM: The work aimed to analyze the prevalence of hereditary genetic factors in different age groups in patients with coronary heart disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted as part of the analysis of data from two observational multicenter Russian studies of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) ORACUL I (1193 patients) and ORACUL II (1803 patients) (the study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with an ID number NCT04068909). The average age of patients was 63.5±12.45 years (1875 men and 1121 women). The study of a panel of candidate genes was performed using the polymerase chain reaction method.

RESULTS: In order to analyze the significance of hereditary factors in patients of different ages, groups of patients with “early” development of CHD (men under 55 years old, women under 60 years old) were formed (n=828). The middle-aged group included men aged 55–74 years and women aged 60–74 years (n=1410). The older age group consisted of patients aged 75 years and older (n=602). In the group of patients with early onset coronary heart disease, the proportion of patients with aggravated heredity was higher. In the older age group, the proportion of patients with non-burdened or unknown heredity was higher. Significant differences in the frequencies of alleles and genotypes of the polymorphic variants studied by us were revealed only for the G-2667C variant of the CRP gene (the frequency of the GG genotype was 87.3% in young patients and 77.2% in the elderly and old patients (p=0.007) and for the C804A variant of the LTA gene (frequency of the CC genotype was 52 0% in young patients, 49.4% in middle-aged patients, and 34.2% in elderly and old patients, p=0.026).

CONCLUSIONS: A burdened family history is more common among patients with early onset coronary artery disease. The differences revealed in the frequencies of genetic variants of genes encoding anti-inflammatory cytokines may indicate their role in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease in older individuals.