Association of Lewis blood group with ischaemic heart disease

A total of 96 patients (74 males and 22 females) with ischaemic heart disea se (IHD) who presented at a hospital in north India for cardiac bypass surg ery, percutaneous coronary angioplasty or unstable angina were investigated for Lewis blood group phenotypes. A hundred and four normal healthy blood donors matched for age and sex served as controls. Lewis blood group typing was carried out on red cells using saline haemagglutination technique in a test tube with monoclonal antisera. 29.1 per cent of IHD patients had Le(( a-b-)) phenotype compared to 9.6 per cent of controls (P<0.01). The relativ e risk of IHD for Le((a-b-)) phenotype was found to be highly significant ( risk = 3.87). We conclude that there is an increased frequency of Le((a-b-) ) phenotype among Indian patients with IHD.