1. Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism and Left Ventricular Failure in Beta-Thalassemia: A Multivariate Meta-Analysis.
- Author
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Dimou NL, Pantavou KG, and Bagos PG
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Multivariate Analysis, Risk Factors, Ventricular Function, Left genetics, beta-Thalassemia complications, beta-Thalassemia physiopathology, Apolipoproteins E genetics, Polymorphism, Genetic, beta-Thalassemia genetics
- Abstract
Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is potentially a genetic risk factor for the development of left ventricular failure (LVF), the main cause of death in beta-thalassemia homozygotes. In the present study, we synthesize the results of independent studies examining the effect of ApoE on LVF development in thalassemic patients through a meta-analytic approach. However, all studies report more than one outcome, as patients are classified into three groups according to the severity of the symptoms and the genetic polymorphism. Thus, a multivariate meta-analytic method that addresses simultaneously multiple exposures and multiple comparison groups was developed. Four individual studies were included in the meta-analysis involving 613 beta-thalassemic patients and 664 controls. The proposed method that takes into account the correlation of log odds ratios (log(ORs)), revealed a statistically significant overall association (P-value = 0.009), mainly attributed to the contrast of E4 versus E3 allele for patients with evidence (OR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.19, 4.53) or patients with clinical and echocardiographic findings (OR: 3.34, 95% CI: 1.78, 6.26) of LVF. This study suggests that E4 is a genetic risk factor for LVF in beta-thalassemia major. The presented multivariate approach can be applied in several fields of research., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/University College London.)
- Published
- 2017
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