World News – GB – People with blood type O are less likely to catch coronavirus, study finds

The results of two independent studies indicate that people with blood group O are less likely to get Covid-19 than people with blood groups A, B and AB

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Their risk of serious complications such as organ failure – and even death – is also reduced, scientists say

Results of two independent studies shed new light on why the virus is fatal for some – while others don’t even know they have had it

A team compared data from the Danish health registry of more than 473,000 people tested for Covid-19 to a control group of more than 22 million of the general population

There were fewer positive results among people with blood type O – the most common – and more among peers with A, B and AB Infection rates were similar in these three groups

Lead author Dr Torben Barington, Odense University Hospital, said: « It is very important to consider the appropriate control group as the prevalence of the blood group can vary widely among ethnic groups and the different countries

« We have the advantage of a strong control group – Denmark is a small ethnically homogeneous country with a public health system and a central registry for laboratory data Our monitoring is therefore based on population, which gives our results a solid basis « 

A second study of 95 critically ill Covid-19 patients at Vancouver hospital found that blood groups A and AB had a higher risk of severe symptoms than those with O or B

They were more likely to require mechanical ventilation – suggesting they had higher rates of lung damage from the virus – and dialysis for kidney failure

This suggests that these two blood groups are at increased risk for organ dysfunction or failure due to Covid-19

In addition, although people with blood types A and AB did not have longer hospital stays, they stayed longer in the intensive care unit (ICU) on average

Lead author Dr Mypinder Sekhon, University of British Columbia, said: “The unique part of our study is that we are focusing on the effect of blood group severity on Covid -19

« We have observed these lung and kidney damage, and in future studies we will want to highlight the effect of blood group and Covid-19 on other vital organs

« Of particular importance as we continue to navigate the pandemic, we now have a wide range of survivors emerging from the acute portion of Covid-19, but we need to explore the mechanisms by which to risk stratifying those who have effects « 

As the pandemic continues, the global biomedical research community is working urgently to identify risk factors and potential treatment targets

The potential role of blood group in predicting infection has become an important scientific question The papers, published in the journal Blood Advances, add to the evidence of a link

Earlier this year, a study of more than 2,000 coronavirus patients in China found the

206 people died, 85 had blood type A – 41% of all deaths

It was also shown that they were more vulnerable to infection and tended to develop more severe symptoms People with blood type O had a « significantly lower risk » of contracting the disease

Chinese team urged doctors and governments to consider blood group differences when treating patients infected with the virus and preventing the spread of the disease

It is always advisable to wash your hands and follow the guidelines issued by the authorities, regardless of your blood type

There are four main blood groups – defined by their number of antigens and protein antibodies Almost half of the UK population (48%) has the O blood group

Blood group, Coronavirus