Young heart patients with a gene variation may be exposed to more heart problems if administered anti clotting drug Plavix.

The medicine is along with a low dose aspirin is prescribed heart attack patients in order to prevent blood vessels from clogging or else to patients who receive an artery opening stent.

It has been found that some patients respond well to the treatment whereas others do not. Though the reasons for the variance are still unclear, the doctors feel that it could be linked to genetics.

"The variation in response is partly due to genetics, but there are other factors such as age which influence the response," said Storey, from the Cardiovascular Research Unit at the University of Sheffield School of Medicine in the United Kingdom.

A study was conducted by Dr Gilles Montalescot on data collected from Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris. The data included 259 patients aged 45 or less; who had suffered a first heart attack and were administered Plavix.

28 percent of these patients carried a gene variation called CYP2C19*2. They were six times more likely to have a blockage in a stent they had received after a heart attack.

The gene variation continued to cause heart problems up to eight years after treatment with Plavix. In fact, patients with the variation were four times more likely to suffer additional heart problems after receiving Plavix.