Objectives: To assess the prevalence of blood-type-A (BTA) among patients referred
for transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI) and whether it is related to vascular
complications (VC).
Backgrounds: VC following TAVI are associated with adverse outcomes. Various
blood types, particularly BTA, have been shown to be more prevalent in cardiovascular
diseases and to be related to prognosis.
Methods: The prevalence of various blood types in a cohort of 491 consecutive patients
who underwent TAVI was compared to a control group of 6500 consecutive hospitalized
patients. The prevalence and predictors of VC and bleeding events were evaluated in
the BTA group and were compared to non-BTA patients.
Results: The mean age of TAVI patients was 83±6 years, and 40% were males.
Patients were divided into two groups: BTA (n=220) and non-BTA (n=271). BTA was
significantly more prevalent in the TAVI group than in the control group (45% vs. 38%,
p=0.023). Compared to the non-BTA group, patients with BTA had more major and fatal
bleeding (14.5% vs. 8.1%, p=0.027) and more VC (any VC: 24.5% vs. 15.9% p=0.016;
major VC: 12.3% vs. 7% p=0.047). In a multivariable analysis, BTA emerged as a
significant and independent predictor for VC and bleeding events.
Conclusions: BTA is significantly more prevalent in TAVI patients than in the general
population and is related to higher rates of vascular and bleeding complications.
