Affiliations: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Norfolk Place, Paddington, London W2 1PG, U.K.
Abstract: It is now recognised that variations in plasma protein composition exist in different ethnic groups. This can be expected to lead to differences in blood rheology. Accordingly, a pilot study was made of a variety of hemorheological factors in five ethnic groups (Afro-Caribbeans, Arabs, Caucasians, Chinese and Indo-subcontinentals). The major rheological difference was in the plasma viscosity, which was significantly increased in all the other groups compared to the Caucasians. The differences in blood viscosity were much less marked and were generally masked by large intersubject variation. Nevertheless, the Chinese males exhibited a raised native whole blood viscosity at low shear rate (0.277s−1) over their Caucasian male counterparts. The Arab, Afro-Caribbean and Chinese subjects displayed a higher erythrocyte aggregation index (Myrenne M1 mode) than the Caucasian group. These differences largely reflect significant variations with regard to total plasma protein and immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA) concentrations between the groups. Interestingly, the content of other proteins studied (IgM, fibrinogen and alpha-2-macroglobulin) was similar between groups.
