Assessment of Six Polymorphic Variants as Genetic Risks for Coronary Artery Disease: A Case–Control Study

Abstract Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Certain genetic polymorphisms play an important role in this multifactorial disease, being linked with increased risk of early onset CAD. Objective: To assess six genetic polymorphisms and clinical risk factors in relation to early onset nondiabetic Iraqi Arab CAD patients compared to controls. Materials and Methods: This case–control study recruited 40 Iraqi patients with early onset CAD and 20 healthy controls. Demographic and clinical data were reported. Six genetic variants were tested: β -fibrinogen (FGB), human platelet antigen 1 (HPA1a/b), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), two variants of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and lymphotoxin alpha (LTA), utilizing a ready-to-use kit. Results: The majority of patients were older males (85%), nonsmokers (52.5%), hypertensives (57.5%), had dyslipidemia (100%), and had a family history of ischemia (77.5%). This contrasts the findings in the control group ( P < 0.001). From the six studied polymorphisms, a statistically significant difference was found between patients and controls in relation to ACE and LTA genes ( P = 0.032 and 0.028), respectively. None (0%) of the participants had a genetic risk score >6. There was a statistically significant association between higher clinical risk scores and CAD group; eNOS G894T was found to be linked with increasing age, while LTA was linked to dyslipidemia. Conclusions: This study aids in CAD risk stratification. There is a need for longitudinal studies assessing more genetic risks to CAD as a national CAD preventive program for high-risk Iraqi people.