Prevalence of the prothrombin gene variant 20210 G --> A among patients with myocardial infarction.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the prothrombin variant allele 20210A among survivors of myocardial infarction. The prothrombin gene variant has been identified as a novel genetic risk factor for venous thrombosis. However, the risk of developing arterial thrombosis as a result of the presence of this mutated allele is unknown. The G-->A transition at position 20210 of the 3'-untranslated region was determined in 220 survivors of myocardial infarction and in 295 individuals from the general population. The prevalence of heterozygotes for the prothrombin mutated allele was 3% among patients with myocardial infarction and 0.7% in the general population (P = 0.03). No age-related difference in the prevalence of the mutated allele was observed. However, for individuals over 45 years old the prevalence among females was higher than among males (5% vs. 0%). These data suggest that being heterozygote for the allele variant 20210A of the prothrombin gene could be a genetic risk factor for developing myocardial infarction.