DONATION OF BLOOD IS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED RISK OF MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION - THE KUOPIO ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE RISK FACTOR STUDY

Citation
Jt. Salonen et al., DONATION OF BLOOD IS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED RISK OF MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION - THE KUOPIO ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE RISK FACTOR STUDY, American journal of epidemiology, 148(5), 1998, pp. 445-451
Citations number
50
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
ISSN journal
00029262
Volume
148
Issue
5
Year of publication
1998
Pages
445 - 451
Database
ISI
SICI code
0002-9262(1998)148:5<445:DOBIAW>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
Because high body iron stores have been suggested as a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction, donation of blood could theoretically re duce the risk by lowering body iron stores. For this reason, the autho rs tested the hypothesis that voluntary blood donation is associated w ith reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction in a prospective epide miologic follow-up study in men from eastern Finland. The subjects are all participants of the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor St udy. A cohort of 2,862 men aged 42-60 years were followed for an avera ge of almost 9 years. One man (0.7%) out of 153 men who had donated bl ood in 24 months preceding the baseline examination experienced an acu te myocardial infarction during 1984 to 1995, whereas 316 men (12.5%) of 2,529 non-blood donors had an acute myocardial infarction (p < 0.00 01 for difference between proportions). In a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, examination years and all other predictive co ronary disease risk factors, blood donors had a 88% reduced risk (rela tive hazard = 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.86, p = 0.035) of a cute myocardial infarction, compared with non-blood donors. These find ings suggest that frequent blood loss through voluntary blood donation s may be associated with a reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction in middle-aged men.