AB blood types at higher risk for severe COVID-19, study indicates
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COVID-19 patients under age 65 with type AB blood have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus while those with type O have a lower risk, a joint research coronavirus task force announced on May 17.
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But the causes of why the risks are higher or lower for people with different blood types are still unclear.
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The task force made the discovery through a large-scale genomic analysis conducted for Japanese people.
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The task force, consisting of experts on infectious diseases, genomic medicine and genetic statistics, was established by Takanori Kanai, a professor of Keio University, and other scholars in May 2020.
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In the study, it compared the blood types of two groups.
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The first group consisted of 440 COVID-19 patients under 65 with serious cases of the virus, while the second consisted of 2,377 people in the same age group whose blood samples were taken before the outbreak.
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The ratio of patients with type AB blood who had serious cases of COVID-19 was found to be 1.4 times higher than that for people with AB blood in the second group.
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The ratio of patients with serious cases of the virus who had type O blood was 0.8 times higher than that for people with O blood in the second group.
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The results therefore showed people with type AB blood had a 1.6 times higher risk of having serious symptoms of COVID-19 than people with type O blood, which a statistics expert said accounts for a meaningful difference.
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The results showed no differences in the ratios of people with type A and type B blood in both groups.
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There have been reports overseas that COVID-19 patients with type O blood had a lower risk of having a serious case of the virus, but results of such a study were inconclusive as few Western people have type AB blood.
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Other reports have denied there is a relationship between blood types and a person’s risk of becoming seriously ill due to a novel coronavirus infection.
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