Blood-cell chromosome changes linked to cardiovascular disease
Hazard ratios, measuring relative disease rates, were 1.08 for non-sex-chromosome changes and 1.04 for Y-chromosome loss, compared with people without the respective change.
Limit: The study excluded people with existing cardiovascular disease or blood cancer
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
An observational study followed 419,762 UK Biobank participants without cardiovascular disease or blood cancer at enrollment. Their average age was 56.2 years, and 56% were female. Researchers used genetic data to identify chromosome changes present in some blood cells. They tracked cardiovascular diagnoses through national health records.
Over a median 11.1 years, 9.9% developed cardiovascular disease. The links with non-sex-chromosome changes and Y-chromosome loss remained after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, medications and demographics. A hazard ratio of 1 would indicate no association. Associations were stronger when the changes affected at least 10% of blood cells: hazard ratios were 1.24 for non-sex-chromosome changes and 1.12 for Y-chromosome loss. X-chromosome loss was not associated with cardiovascular disease after accounting for the number of statistical tests.
Why it matters
Blood stem cells with genetic changes can expand in number with age. The study addresses whether larger chromosome changes in these cells also mark cardiovascular risk.
Caveats
This observational study cannot establish cause and effect, and the report is a conference abstract. Its findings may not apply to people with existing cardiovascular disease or blood cancer, whom the study excluded.
The paper
Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard Medical School; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
